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.

A common way of making a decision about when you can plant onions is to refer to the USDA zone info for Lake Geneva.

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 tells us that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant onions in Lake Geneva 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 fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your onions indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Lake Geneva. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Lake Geneva is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Lake Geneva there is a last frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your onions in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Geneva

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Lake Geneva

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lake Geneva.