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.

By using the USDA zone info for Santa Cruz you should be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant onions.

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 cold weather which tells us that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant onions in Santa Cruz 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 fully mature. Starting your onions indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Santa Cruz is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Cruz there is a last frost after February 15 so always be ready to cover your onions if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Cruz

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 Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°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 Santa Cruz

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Santa Cruz.