Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

By using the USDA zone info for El Cajon you should be able to determine when it's possible to plant garlic.

Planting Calendar for Garlic

Frost tolerance for garlic:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Garlic do well in cold which means that you can plant them much earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant garlic in El Cajon is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant garlic and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your garlic may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your garlic indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on January 31 in El Cajon. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for El Cajon and it is different every year. Half of the time in El Cajon you get surprised by a frost after January 31 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your garlic if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for El Cajon

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in El Cajon

You may be interested in your other planting guides for El Cajon.