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.

A way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant shallots is to refer to the USDA zone info for Taft.

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 tend to make it in mild cold which means that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant shallots in Taft 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 really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your shallots indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Taft. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Taft is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Taft you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your shallots if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Taft

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 Taft

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