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

A common way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant potatos is to examine the USDA zone info for Monterey.

Planting Calendar for Potatos

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

You can plant potatos much earlier in the year because they do well in cold.

The earliest that you can plant potatos 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 potatos and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your potatos may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your potatos indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Monterey. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Monterey and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Monterey you get a frost after January 31 so make sure that you are ready to protect your potatos if you have a 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.