One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The best time to plant onions in Oakland can be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Onions

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

Onions do ok in a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them much earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant onions in Oakland 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. Any later than that and your onions may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your onions indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on January 31 in Oakland. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Oakland may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Oakland you get surprised by a frost after January 31 be ready to cover your onions in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Oakland

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 Oakland

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