When to Plant Sweet corn in Santa Barbara, CA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine 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 Santa Barbara should be used to figure out when it's possible to plant sweet corn.


Planting Calendar for Sweet corn

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

You can plant sweet corn 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 sweet corn
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant sweet corn
Probably not a good time to plant sweet corn

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

Last Frost Date

In Santa Barbara the average date of last frost happens on January 31. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Santa Barbara may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Barbara you get surprised by a frost after January 31 so be sure to be ready to cover your sweet corn in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Barbara

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 Santa Barbara

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Santa Barbara.