When to Plant Onions in Braidwood, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to figure out when you can plant onions by using the USDA zone info for Braidwood.


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 quite a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them much earlier in the year 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 Braidwood 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 onions and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your onions may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your onions indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Braidwood. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Braidwood is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Braidwood you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your onions if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Braidwood

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-15°F
Highest Expected Low-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Braidwood

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