One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 will be able to estimate when it's a good idea to plant spinach by reviewing the USDA zone info for Richmond.

Planting Calendar for Spinach

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

Since spinach are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant spinach in Richmond 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 really do well. If you are starting your spinach indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Richmond. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Richmond is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Richmond you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your spinach in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Richmond

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°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 -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Richmond

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