My soil here in central northern Alabama is not quite warm enough yet for the earliest spring crops like peas, but it's close. Perhaps next week. ACES says to plant Irish potatoes in July, but I've talked to many who plant a spring crop as well.

I list my zone as 6a, but I am zone 5 according to the Gardenweb calculator. I'm right on the edge and have a microclimate that is warmer than most of zone 5. That said, I have found that starting around April 1, when the forsythia start to bloom, works for me. I know neighbors who plant on St Patricks day, but that seems risky. It usually takes two weeks for sprouts to emerge, and the potatoes are safe from temperatures down to 20 for short spells when covered with soil, but they can freeze when they are above ground. This year, when everything seems to be almost two weeks behind our usual, I still chose to plant on April 1. Then, with little warning, we had an inch of snow and a low of 22 on Wednesday. My potatoes under three inches of soil had not emerged at two weeks of age. In anticipation of frost, I covered the soil where the potatoes grow with another 2-3 inches of soil. If the sprouts freeze, the potato plant can be set back at least two weeks. My rush to plant as early as possible, risking a freeze, is not to make room for another vegetable later. I do it because it is likely to get very hot here in early July, and tubers stop bulking when that happens. I want them to be big by that time, and that takes at least two to three months.

Territorial is based in the Pacific Northwest where winter may be 2 days in January. The person selling the potato onions obviously is experience in growing them in colder zones. I grew the yellow potato onions for a number of years. Even had some to trade a few years ago. Then lost all but a few one winter and the rest the following year. Definitely wasn't going to attempt battling a losing cause. Potato onions have long been the winter storage onion just for the South. Still are! Martin

I am 5o miles west of Charlotte and I try to plant my potatoes around Mar 1, and I have planted as early as early February. If it frosts after the vegetation breaks through the ground, the vegetation will die back, but so far as I know it has always regrown with no real setback. Last year frost threatened after I had about 6 inch plants, and most of the vegetation was not hurt.