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

A way of determining when it's possible to plant lemon grass is to use the USDA zone info for Salinas.

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 barely cold tolerant you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lemon grass in Salinas 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. Any later than that and your lemon grass may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your lemon grass indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Salinas the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Salinas may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Salinas there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to cover your lemon grass in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Salinas

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 Salinas

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