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

By referring to the USDA zone info for Santa Monica you should be able to figure out when it's the best time to plant spinach.

Planting Calendar for Spinach

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

Since spinach do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant spinach in Santa Monica 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 spinach and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your spinach may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your spinach 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 Santa Monica. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 35°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Santa Monica may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Monica last frost occurs after January 31 so be sure to be ready to protect your spinach in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Monica

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in Santa Monica

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