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.

In Ridgecrest you can determine when you can plant four o' clock by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Four O' Clock

Frost tolerance for four o' clock:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

You can not plant four o' clock until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant four o' clock in Ridgecrest is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant four o' clock and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your four o' clock may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your four o' clock indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Ridgecrest. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°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 Ridgecrest and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Ridgecrest you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your four o' clock if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ridgecrest

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Ridgecrest

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