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.

A common way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant borage is to consult the USDA zone info for Patterson.

Planting Calendar for Borage

Frost tolerance for borage:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

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

The earliest that you can plant borage in Patterson 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 borage and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your borage may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your borage indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Patterson. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Patterson may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Patterson there is a last frost after February 15 so always be ready to cover your borage in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Patterson

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 Patterson

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