When to Plant Spearmint in Morton, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of figuring out when to plant spearmint is to examine the USDA zone info for Morton.


Planting Calendar for Spearmint

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

You can plant spearmint quite a bit earlier in the year because they are very cold tolerant.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant spearmint
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant spearmint
Probably not a good time to plant spearmint

The earliest that you can plant spearmint in Morton 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 spearmint and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your spearmint may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your spearmint indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Morton the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Morton may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Morton last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your spearmint if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Morton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Morton

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