When to Plant Garlic in Scotts Valley, CA

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

One way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant garlic is to look at the USDA zone info for Scotts Valley.


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 a bit of cold which means that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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 Scotts Valley 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. Any later than that and your garlic may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your garlic indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Scotts Valley. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Scotts Valley is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Scotts Valley there is a last frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your garlic if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Scotts Valley

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 Scotts Valley

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Scotts Valley.