One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The USDA zone info for Madison should be reviewed to figure out when it's possible to plant spearmint.

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 do well in cold.

The earliest that you can plant spearmint in Madison 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your spearmint may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your spearmint indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Madison. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Madison is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Madison last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your spearmint if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Madison

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 Madison

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