When to Plant Shallots in Lake Forest, CA

One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

You should be able to figure out when to plant shallots by using the USDA zone info for Lake Forest.


Planting Calendar for Shallots

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

Since shallots are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather 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 shallots
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant shallots
Probably not a good time to plant shallots

The earliest that you can plant shallots in Lake Forest 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 shallots and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your shallots may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your shallots indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Lake Forest the average date of last frost happens on January 31. You should expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Lake Forest is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake Forest it frosts late in the year after January 31 be ready to protect your shallots if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Forest

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 Low30°F
Highest Expected Low35°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 Lake Forest

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lake Forest.