One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of determining when to plant stoneseed is to examine the USDA zone info for Shafter.

Planting Calendar for Stoneseed

Frost tolerance for stoneseed:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

It's a bad idea to plant stoneseed until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant stoneseed in Shafter 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 stoneseed and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your stoneseed may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your stoneseed indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Shafter the average date of last frost happens on February 15. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Shafter may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Shafter last frost occurs after February 15 so always be ready to protect your stoneseed if you have 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.