One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can estimate when to plant matricaria in Shafter by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Matricaria

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

Matricaria can survive in some cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant matricaria in Shafter 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 matricaria and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your matricaria may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your matricaria indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Shafter. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Shafter and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Shafter you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your matricaria in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Shafter

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Shafter

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Shafter.