When to Plant Garlic in Riverside, CA

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

The first chance to plant garlic in Riverside should be estimated by referring to the USDA zone info.


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 a lot earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant garlic
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant garlic
Probably not a good time to plant garlic

The earliest that you can plant garlic in Riverside 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. Starting your garlic indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Riverside. You should expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Riverside may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Riverside you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your garlic if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Riverside

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 Low25°F
Highest Expected Low30°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 Riverside

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