One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

The USDA zone info for Franklin should be used to figure out when it's possible to plant pearl onions.

Planting Calendar for Pearl onions

Frost tolerance for pearl onions:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Pearl onions tend to make it in mild cold which means that 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 pearl onions in Franklin 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 pearl onions and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your pearl onions may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your pearl onions indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Franklin. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Franklin is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Franklin it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your pearl onions if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Franklin

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 Franklin

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