One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Cortez you can estimate when it's the best time to plant ruby grass by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Ruby Grass

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

You can plant ruby grass a bit earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant ruby grass in Cortez 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 ruby grass and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your ruby grass may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your ruby grass indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Cortez. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Cortez is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Cortez it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your ruby grass if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Cortez

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Cortez

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