When to Plant Squash in San Luis Obispo, CA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. 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 Luis Obispo can be looked at to estimate when to plant squash.


Planting Calendar for Squash

Frost tolerance for squash: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Squash are not cold tolerant which means that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant squash
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant squash
Probably not a good time to plant squash

The earliest that you can plant squash in San Luis Obispo 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 squash and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your squash may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your squash indoors.

Last Frost Date

In San Luis Obispo 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.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for San Luis Obispo and it is different every year. Since half of the time in San Luis Obispo last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to protect your squash if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for San Luis Obispo

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 Low25°F
Highest Expected Low30°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 Luis Obispo

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