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.

In Alachua you can determine when it's the best time to plant garlic by using 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.

Garlic do well in cold which means that you can get them planted much earlier than more sensitive plants.

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

The last month that you can plant garlic and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and 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

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Alachua. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Alachua may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Alachua there is a last frost after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your garlic in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Alachua

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Alachua

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