One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 first opportunity to plant onions in Mentor can be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Onions

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

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

The earliest that you can plant onions in Mentor 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 fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your onions indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Mentor the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Mentor is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Mentor you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your onions in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mentor

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°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 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Mentor

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