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.

It's possible to figure out when it's a good idea to plant garlic by using the USDA zone info for West Chicago.

Planting Calendar for Garlic

Frost tolerance for garlic:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Garlic do ok in cold weather which tells us that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant garlic in West Chicago 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your garlic indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in West Chicago. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for West Chicago is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in West Chicago you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your garlic if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for West Chicago

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

Plants to Grow in West Chicago

You may be interested in your other planting guides for West Chicago.