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.

In Elmira you can estimate when it's the best time to plant lemon balm by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Lemon balm

Frost tolerance for lemon balm:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Lemon balm do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lemon balm in Elmira is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant lemon balm and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your lemon balm may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your lemon balm indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Elmira. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Elmira is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Elmira you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your lemon balm in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elmira

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 Elmira

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