One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of getting a good idea when it's the best time to plant spinach is to check out the USDA zone info for Ripley.

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 other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant spinach in Ripley 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your spinach may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your spinach indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Ripley. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ripley is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Ripley it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your spinach if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ripley

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

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

Plants to Grow in Ripley

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