One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant lemon balm in Fort Smith can be determined by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Lemon balm

Frost tolerance for lemon balm:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Lemon balm can survive in a tiny bit of cold which means that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lemon balm in Fort Smith is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant lemon balm and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your lemon balm may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your lemon balm indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Fort Smith may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Fort Smith it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your lemon balm in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Smith

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 Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 Fort Smith

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fort Smith.