The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Cortland you will be able to figure out when it's possible 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.

Garlic do well in cold which means that you can start planting them much earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant garlic in Cortland 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 fully mature. Starting your garlic indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Cortland. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Cortland is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Cortland last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your garlic in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Cortland

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 Cortland

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