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 first chance to plant spearmint in Marquette can be determined 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.

Since spearmint do well in cold you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

In Marquette the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Marquette may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Marquette it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your spearmint in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Marquette

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Marquette

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