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.

You should be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant spinach by referring to the USDA zone info for Joplin.

Planting Calendar for Spinach

Frost tolerance for spinach:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Spinach can survive in some cold which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant spinach in Joplin 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 spinach and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your spinach may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your spinach indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Joplin. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Joplin and it is different every year. Half of the time in Joplin it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your spinach in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Joplin

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 Joplin

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