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

The earliest that you can plant celery in Mission should be determined by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Celery

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

You can plant celery slightly earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant celery in Mission 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 celery and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your celery may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your celery indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Mission. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Mission is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Mission there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to cover your celery if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mission

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 Mission

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