One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to figure out when it's the best time to plant spinach by using the USDA zone info for Merced.

Planting Calendar for Spinach

Frost tolerance for spinach:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since spinach are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant spinach in Merced is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant spinach and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your spinach may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your spinach indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Merced. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Merced and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Merced you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your spinach in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Merced

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Merced

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Merced.