When to Plant Bunching Onions in Ankeny, IA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can estimate when you can plant bunching onions in Ankeny by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Bunching Onions

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

Bunching Onions do well in a tiny bit of cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant bunching onions
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant bunching onions
Probably not a good time to plant bunching onions

The earliest that you can plant bunching onions in Ankeny 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 bunching onions and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your bunching onions may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your bunching onions indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Ankeny. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Ankeny is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Ankeny you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your bunching onions if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ankeny

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-20°F
Highest Expected Low-15°F

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

Plants to Grow in Ankeny

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