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

One way of making a decision about when you can plant lemon balm is to examine the USDA zone info for Elk Grove.

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 do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can start planting them slightly earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lemon balm in Elk Grove 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 lemon balm and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your lemon balm may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your lemon balm indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on February 15 in Elk Grove. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Elk Grove is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Elk Grove you get a frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your lemon balm if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elk Grove

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Elk Grove

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Elk Grove.