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.

In Bethlehem you can figure out when it's the best time 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.

Garlic are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which means that you can start planting them much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant garlic in Bethlehem 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 fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your garlic indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Bethlehem. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

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

USDA Zone Info for Bethlehem

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 Bethlehem

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