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.

A common way of making a decision about when to plant garlic is to consult the USDA zone info for Southern Pines.

Planting Calendar for Garlic

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

Garlic are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant garlic in Southern Pines 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. Starting your garlic indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Southern Pines. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Southern Pines is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Southern Pines you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your garlic if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Southern Pines

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Southern Pines

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Southern Pines.