One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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 making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant onions is to look at the USDA zone info for Eugene.

Planting Calendar for Onions

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

Onions are very cold tolerant which means that you can get them planted much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant onions in Eugene 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. If you wait any later than that and your onions may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your onions indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Eugene and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Eugene you get a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your onions if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Eugene

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Eugene

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