When to Plant Clover in San Mateo, CA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of determining when you can plant clover is to look at the USDA zone info for San Mateo.


Planting Calendar for Clover

Frost tolerance for clover: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant clover a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

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

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in San Mateo. You can expect an average low temperature of 30°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 Mateo and it is different every year. Half of the time in San Mateo you get a frost after January 31 so make sure that you are ready to cover your clover in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for San Mateo

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low30°F
Highest Expected Low35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in San Mateo

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