One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By referring to the USDA zone info for La Plata it's a good idea to determine when it's possible 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 a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant onions in La Plata 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 fully mature. 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 all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in La Plata. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for La Plata and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in La Plata you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your onions in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for La Plata

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in La Plata

You may be interested in your other planting guides for La Plata.