One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of estimating when to plant lemon balm is to look at the USDA zone info for Escalon.

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 tend to make it in very little cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant lemon balm in Escalon 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lemon balm may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your lemon balm indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Escalon the average date of last frost happens on February 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Escalon is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Escalon last frost occurs after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your lemon balm in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Escalon

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 Escalon

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