Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out 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.

A way of estimating when to plant garlic is to look at the USDA zone info for Ripon.

Planting Calendar for Garlic

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

You can plant garlic earlier in the year because they are very cold tolerant.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Ripon. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ripon and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Ripon it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to protect your garlic in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ripon

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Ripon

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