When to Plant Garlic in Indianola, IA

One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your 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.

The first chance to plant garlic in Indianola can be estimated by checking out 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 earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle 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 Indianola 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 fully mature. If you are starting your garlic indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Indianola is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Indianola you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your garlic if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Indianola

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 Indianola

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