When to Plant Garlic in Brighton, MI

One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

One way of making a decision about when to plant garlic is to refer to the USDA zone info for Brighton.


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 much earlier in the year because they are very cold tolerant.

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 Brighton 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 really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your garlic indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Brighton may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Brighton there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your garlic if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Brighton

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 Brighton

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