When to Plant Garlic in Zone 1b

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

A way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant garlic is to consult the USDA zone info for Zone 1b.


Planting Calendar for Garlic

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

Since garlic do well in cold you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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 Zone 1b is May. However, you really should wait until June if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant garlic and expect a good harvest is probably July. Any later than that and your garlic may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your garlic indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Zone 1b the average date of last frost happens on June 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -55°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Zone 1b is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Zone 1b it frosts late in the year after June 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your garlic in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 1b

Here is the info for USDA Zone 1b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)June 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)July 15
Lowest Expected Low-55°F
Highest Expected Low-50°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -55°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -50°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 1b

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 1b.