One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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 opportunity to plant garlic in Independence should be estimated 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 are very cold tolerant you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant garlic in Independence 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 fully mature. 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

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Independence. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Independence is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Independence there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your garlic in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Independence

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

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

Plants to Grow in Independence

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