One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

The first opportunity to plant shallots in Waterville can be estimated by checking out the USDA zone info.

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.

Since shallots are barely cold tolerant you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant shallots in Waterville 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 shallots and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your shallots may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your shallots indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Waterville. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Waterville is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Waterville there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your shallots if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Waterville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Waterville

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