When to Plant Onions in Barstow, CA

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

The USDA zone info for Barstow should be read to determine when 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.

You can plant onions much earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant onions in Barstow is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

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

Last Frost Date

In Barstow the average date of last frost happens on February 15. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Barstow is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Barstow it frosts late in the year after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your onions in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Barstow

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low20°F
Highest Expected Low25°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 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Barstow

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