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.

One way of figuring out when to plant salsify is to consult the USDA zone info for South San Francisco.

Planting Calendar for Salsify

Frost tolerance for salsify:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since salsify are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant salsify in South San Francisco is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant salsify and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your salsify may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your salsify indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In South San Francisco the average date of last frost happens on January 31. You should expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for South San Francisco and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in South San Francisco it frosts late in the year after January 31 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your salsify if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for South San Francisco

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in South San Francisco

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South San Francisco.