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.

By using the USDA zone info for Chestertown it's possible to estimate when to plant balsam.

Planting Calendar for Balsam

Frost tolerance for balsam:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably a bad idea to plant balsam until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in Chestertown is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant balsam and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your balsam may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your balsam indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Chestertown. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Chestertown may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Chestertown there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your balsam if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Chestertown

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Chestertown

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