The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of determining when to plant onions is to look at the USDA zone info for Cape Girardeau.

Planting Calendar for Onions

Frost tolerance for onions:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

You can plant onions quite a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant onions in Cape Girardeau 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. Any later than that and your onions may not have a chance to really do well. 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

In Cape Girardeau the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Cape Girardeau is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Cape Girardeau you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your onions if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Cape Girardeau

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Cape Girardeau

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Cape Girardeau.