One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your 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 getting a good idea when it's the best time to plant purslane is to examine the USDA zone info for San Marcos.

Planting Calendar for Purslane

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

Since purslane do ok in moderate cold you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant purslane in San Marcos 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 purslane and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your purslane may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your purslane indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in San Marcos. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for San Marcos is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in San Marcos there is a last frost after March 15 so always be ready to cover your purslane in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for San Marcos

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in San Marcos

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