One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 can figure out when to plant spearmint in Poughkeepsie 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 tend to make it in quite a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant spearmint in Poughkeepsie 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. Any later than that and your spearmint may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your spearmint indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Poughkeepsie the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Poughkeepsie is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Poughkeepsie last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your spearmint if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Poughkeepsie

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 Poughkeepsie

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