One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. 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 looked at to figure out when it's possible to plant chinese cabbage.

Planting Calendar for Chinese cabbage

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

Since chinese cabbage do well in moderate cold you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on February 15 in Santa Clara. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Santa Clara is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Clara there is a last frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your chinese cabbage in the event of a late frost.

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 Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°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.