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

It's a good idea to figure out when to plant sweet potatos by reviewing the USDA zone info for Salinas.

Planting Calendar for Sweet Potatos

Frost tolerance for sweet potatos:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Sweet Potatos are not cold tolerant which means that it's important to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant sweet potatos in Salinas is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant sweet potatos and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your sweet potatos may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your sweet potatos indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on February 15 in Salinas. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Salinas and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Salinas it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to cover your sweet potatos 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.