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.

It's possible to figure out when it's the best time to plant spearmint by looking at the USDA zone info for Palo Alto.

Planting Calendar for Spearmint

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

Spearmint do well in cold which means that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant spearmint in Palo Alto is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant spearmint and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your spearmint may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your spearmint indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Palo Alto 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.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Palo Alto is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Palo Alto it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to protect your spearmint in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Palo Alto

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 Palo Alto

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Palo Alto.