One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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.

You should be able to estimate when you can plant pearl onions by looking at the USDA zone info for Cathedral City.

Planting Calendar for Pearl onions

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

Pearl onions do ok in moderate cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant pearl onions in Cathedral City 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 pearl onions and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your pearl onions may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your pearl onions indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Cathedral City the average date of last frost happens on February 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Cathedral City is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Cathedral City you get a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your pearl onions in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Cathedral City

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 Cathedral City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Cathedral City.