When to Plant Cucumbers in Santa Maria, CA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant cucumbers in Santa Maria can be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Cucumbers

Frost tolerance for cucumbers: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost.

Cucumbers are not cold tolerant which means that you must wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant cucumbers in Santa Maria is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant cucumbers and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your cucumbers may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your cucumbers indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Santa Maria the average date of last frost happens on February 15. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Santa Maria and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Santa Maria last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to protect your cucumbers if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Maria

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 Maria

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