One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Cookeville you will be able to determine when to plant pearl onions.

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 do ok in moderate cold you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant pearl onions in Cookeville 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your pearl onions indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Cookeville the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Cookeville is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Cookeville you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your pearl onions if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Cookeville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Cookeville

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