One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

The first chance to plant garlic in Portsmouth can be estimated by looking at 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 earlier in the year because they do well in cold.

The earliest that you can plant garlic in Portsmouth 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 few weeks earlier by starting your garlic indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Portsmouth and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Portsmouth there is a last frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your garlic in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Portsmouth

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 Portsmouth

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