One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Methuen should be used to figure out when it's the best time to plant garlic.

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 much earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant garlic in Methuen 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. 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

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Methuen. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Methuen may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Methuen there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your garlic in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Methuen

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 Methuen

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