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.

A way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant spearmint is to check out the USDA zone info for Monticello.

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 tells us that you can get them planted much earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant spearmint in Monticello 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 really do well. If you are starting your spearmint indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Monticello. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Monticello is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Monticello last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your spearmint in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Monticello

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 Monticello

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