One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your 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.

In Merced you can figure out when to plant shallots by using the USDA zone info.

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 barely cold tolerant you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant shallots in Merced 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. If you wait any later than that and your shallots may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your shallots indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Merced. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Merced may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Merced it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to protect your shallots if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Merced

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 Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°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 Merced

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