One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can estimate when it's a good idea to plant garlic in Riverdale by looking at 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.

Since garlic do well in cold you can plant them much earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant garlic in Riverdale 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your garlic may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your garlic indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Riverdale. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Riverdale is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Riverdale you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your garlic in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Riverdale

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Riverdale

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