When to Plant Garlic in New Bedford, MA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. 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 it's possible to plant garlic in New Bedford 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.

You can plant garlic quite a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

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 New Bedford 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

The average date of last frost is April 15 in New Bedford. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for New Bedford is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in New Bedford last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your garlic in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for New Bedford

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-5°F
Highest Expected Low0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in New Bedford

You may be interested in your other planting guides for New Bedford.