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.

A way of estimating when it's the best time to plant shallots is to use the USDA zone info for Cornelius.

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.

Shallots are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant shallots in Cornelius 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. Starting your shallots indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Cornelius. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Cornelius is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Cornelius it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your shallots in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Cornelius

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

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

Plants to Grow in Cornelius

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