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.

It's a good idea to estimate when it's the best time to plant onions by referring to the USDA zone info for El Centro.

Planting Calendar for Onions

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

Onions are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them much earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant onions in El Centro 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 grow to maturity. Starting your onions indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In El Centro the average date of last frost happens on January 31. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for El Centro may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in El Centro you get a frost after January 31 be ready to cover your onions if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for El Centro

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in El Centro

You may be interested in your other planting guides for El Centro.