One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Southern Pines you can determine when it's the best time to plant spearmint by referring to 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.

Spearmint can survive in quite a bit of cold which means that you can plant them much earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant spearmint in Southern Pines 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 really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your spearmint indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Southern Pines. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Southern Pines and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Southern Pines you get a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your spearmint in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Southern Pines

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Southern Pines

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Southern Pines.