One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Monterey it's a good idea to determine when it's the best time to plant bittercress.

Planting Calendar for Bittercress

Frost tolerance for bittercress:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Bittercress do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

The last month that you can plant bittercress and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your bittercress may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your bittercress indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on January 31 in Monterey. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Monterey and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Monterey last frost occurs after January 31 so just be sure to be ready to cover your bittercress if you have a surprise late frost.

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.