One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

It's possible to determine when it's the best time to plant lemon balm by reviewing the USDA zone info for Ojai.

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 are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant lemon balm in Ojai 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. Any later than that and your lemon balm may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your lemon balm indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Ojai. You should expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ojai is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Ojai there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to protect your lemon balm if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ojai

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 Ojai

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