Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant sorrel is to consult the USDA zone info for Shafter.

Planting Calendar for Sorrel

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

Since sorrel are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant sorrel 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 sorrel and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your sorrel may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your sorrel indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Shafter the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Shafter is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Shafter you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your sorrel in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.