One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Nashville you will be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant onions.

Planting Calendar for Onions

Frost tolerance for onions:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since onions are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant onions in Nashville 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 onions and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your onions may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your onions indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Nashville. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Nashville is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Nashville you get a frost after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your onions in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Nashville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Nashville

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