One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

The USDA zone info for Monterey can be looked at to estimate when it's possible to plant lemon grass.

Planting Calendar for Lemon grass

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

Since lemon grass are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lemon grass 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 lemon grass and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lemon grass may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your lemon grass indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on January 31 in Monterey. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Monterey and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Monterey you get a frost after January 31 so just be sure to be ready to cover your lemon grass in the event of 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.