One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 estimate when it's a good idea to plant lemon balm by referring to the USDA zone info for New London.

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 very little cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant lemon balm in New London 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. 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 April 15 in New London. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for New London is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in New London you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your lemon balm in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for New London

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°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 0°F.

Plants to Grow in New London

You may be interested in your other planting guides for New London.