The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Ridgecrest should be used to figure out when it's a good idea to plant shallots.

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.

Shallots can survive in very little cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant shallots in Ridgecrest is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant shallots and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your shallots may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your shallots indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Ridgecrest. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Ridgecrest may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Ridgecrest last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your shallots in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ridgecrest

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Ridgecrest

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