One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

The best time to plant strawberries in Modesto should be determined by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Strawberries

Frost tolerance for strawberries:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

You can plant strawberries a lot earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant strawberries in Modesto 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 strawberries and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your strawberries may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your strawberries indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Modesto. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Modesto may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Modesto there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to cover your strawberries in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Modesto

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Modesto

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