Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Elmira you should be able to determine when it's possible to plant onions.

Planting Calendar for Onions

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

Onions do ok in pretty solid cold which tells us that you can plant them earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant onions in Elmira 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your onions indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Elmira. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Elmira is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Elmira you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your onions in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elmira

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

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

Plants to Grow in Elmira

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