When to Plant Onions in Rio Vista, CA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant onions in Rio Vista 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 are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which tells us that you can start planting them much earlier than other frost tender plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant onions
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant onions
Probably not a good time to plant onions

The earliest that you can plant onions in Rio Vista 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 grow to maturity. If you are starting your onions indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Rio Vista. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Rio Vista is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Rio Vista you get a frost after February 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your onions if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rio Vista

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low25°F
Highest Expected Low30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Rio Vista

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rio Vista.