When to Plant Lemon balm in Lancaster, PA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Lancaster you can determine when you can 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 tend to make it in a tiny bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant lemon balm
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant lemon balm
Probably not a good time to plant lemon balm

The earliest that you can plant lemon balm in Lancaster 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. If you wait any later than that and your lemon balm may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your lemon balm indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Lancaster the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lancaster is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Lancaster last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your lemon balm in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Lancaster

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-5°F
Highest Expected Low0°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 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Lancaster

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