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 figure out when you can plant garlic in Mattoon 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 tells us that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant garlic in Mattoon 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. Any later than that and your garlic may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your garlic indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Mattoon. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Mattoon is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Mattoon it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your garlic if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mattoon

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°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 -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Mattoon

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