When to Plant Cauliflower in Santa Clara, CA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Santa Clara should be used to figure out when it's possible to plant cauliflower.


Planting Calendar for Cauliflower

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

Cauliflower do well in a little bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant cauliflower in Santa Clara 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 cauliflower and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cauliflower may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your cauliflower indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Santa Clara. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Santa Clara is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Clara you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your cauliflower in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Clara

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 Santa Clara

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