One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

In Watsonville you can estimate when it's possible to plant platycodon by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Platycodon

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

Platycodon are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which tells us that you can start planting them slightly earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant platycodon in Watsonville 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 platycodon and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your platycodon may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your platycodon indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Watsonville the average date of last frost happens on February 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Watsonville and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Watsonville it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to protect your platycodon if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Watsonville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Watsonville

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