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.

The USDA zone info for San Jose can be looked at to estimate when it's the best time to plant lettuce.

Planting Calendar for Lettuce

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

Lettuce do well in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lettuce in San Jose 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 lettuce and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your lettuce may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your lettuce indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on February 15 in San Jose. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for San Jose is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in San Jose you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your lettuce in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for San Jose

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 San Jose

You may be interested in your other planting guides for San Jose.