When to Plant Garlic in Emporia, VA

One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

You can estimate when you can plant garlic in Emporia by reviewing 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 plant them a quite a bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant garlic
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant garlic
Probably not a good time to plant garlic

The earliest that you can plant garlic in Emporia 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

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Emporia. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Emporia may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Emporia you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your garlic in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Emporia

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low5°F
Highest Expected Low10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Emporia

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