One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Joplin you can determine when to plant garlic by referring to 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.

Since garlic are very cold tolerant you can plant them much earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant garlic in Joplin 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your garlic indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Joplin. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Joplin is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Joplin you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your garlic if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Joplin

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 Low	0°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 Joplin

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