One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can determine when it's possible to plant onions in Hood River 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 are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted much earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant onions in Hood River 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. If you are starting your onions indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Hood River. You can expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Hood River may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Hood River you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your onions if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hood River

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 Hood River

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Hood River.