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.

In Chester you can determine when it's possible to plant shallots by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Shallots

Frost tolerance for shallots:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Shallots are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which tells us that you can start planting them slightly earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant shallots in Chester 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 shallots and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your shallots may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your shallots indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Chester. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Chester and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Chester there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your shallots if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Chester

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 Chester

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