One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

One way of determining when it's the best time to plant balsam is to look at the USDA zone info for Manasquan.

Planting Calendar for Balsam

Frost tolerance for balsam:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Since balsam are not cold tolerant you must wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in Manasquan is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant balsam and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your balsam may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your balsam indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Manasquan the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Manasquan and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Manasquan there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your balsam if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Manasquan

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Manasquan

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