One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant pearl onions in Salem can be estimated by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Pearl onions

Frost tolerance for pearl onions:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Pearl onions do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant pearl onions in Salem 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 pearl onions and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your pearl onions may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your pearl onions indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Salem. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Salem is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Salem last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your pearl onions if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Salem

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Salem

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