One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

You should be able to determine when you can plant lemon balm by checking out the USDA zone info for Keokuk.

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.

Since lemon balm are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lemon balm in Keokuk 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lemon balm may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your lemon balm indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Keokuk. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Keokuk may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Keokuk there is a last frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your lemon balm if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Keokuk

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Keokuk

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