One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

In Charlotte you can estimate when it's possible to plant shallots by referring to 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 do ok in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant shallots in Charlotte 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your shallots may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your shallots indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Charlotte the average date of last frost happens on March 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Charlotte may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Charlotte it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to protect your shallots in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Charlotte

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Charlotte

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