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

One way of determining when it's a good idea to plant strawberries is to examine the USDA zone info for San Rafael.

Planting Calendar for Strawberries

Frost tolerance for strawberries:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Strawberries tend to make it in cold weather which means that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in San Rafael. You can expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for San Rafael and it is different every year. Since half of the time in San Rafael there is a last frost after January 31 be ready to protect your strawberries in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for San Rafael

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 Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°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 Rafael

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