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.

The first opportunity to plant lemon balm in Oil City can be estimated by looking at 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 can survive in some cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lemon balm in Oil City 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 really do well. If you are starting your lemon balm indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Oil City. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Oil City is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Oil City there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your lemon balm if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Oil City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Oil City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Oil City.