The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. 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 you can plant stocks is to refer to the USDA zone info for Petaluma.

Planting Calendar for Stocks

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

Since stocks do ok in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant stocks in Petaluma 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 stocks and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your stocks may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your stocks indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that USDA zone info for Petaluma is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Petaluma there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to cover your stocks in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Petaluma

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 Petaluma

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