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.

In North Charleston you can estimate when it's a good idea to plant pearl onions by checking out the USDA zone info.

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.

Since pearl onions are barely cold tolerant you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant pearl onions in North Charleston 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your pearl onions may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your pearl onions indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in North Charleston. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for North Charleston is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in North Charleston there is a last frost after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your pearl onions in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for North Charleston

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 North Charleston

You may be interested in your other planting guides for North Charleston.