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 common way of determining when to plant pearl onions is to consult the USDA zone info for Hempstead.

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 do ok in mild cold which means that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant pearl onions in Hempstead 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. Any later than that and your pearl onions may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your pearl onions indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Hempstead. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Hempstead and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Hempstead last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your pearl onions in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hempstead

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 Hempstead

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