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

In Ponchatoula you can determine when it's possible to plant spearmint by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Spearmint

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

Spearmint can survive in a bit of cold which means that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant spearmint in Ponchatoula 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. If you wait any later than that and your spearmint may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your spearmint indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Ponchatoula. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ponchatoula is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Ponchatoula last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to cover your spearmint in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ponchatoula

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Ponchatoula

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