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.

The best time to plant spearmint in Ruston can be figured out by looking at 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.

Since spearmint are very cold tolerant you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant spearmint in Ruston 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your spearmint indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Ruston. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ruston is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Ruston you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your spearmint if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ruston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Ruston

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