One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of getting a good idea when to plant asparagus is to refer to the USDA zone info for Monterey.

Planting Calendar for Asparagus

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

Since asparagus are very cold tolerant you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant asparagus in Monterey 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 asparagus and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your asparagus may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your asparagus indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on January 31 in Monterey. You can expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Monterey may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Monterey you get surprised by a frost after January 31 be ready to protect your asparagus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Monterey

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Monterey

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