One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

A common way of making a decision about when to plant lemon balm is to check out the USDA zone info for Atoka.

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 very little cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lemon balm in Atoka 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 grow to maturity. Starting your lemon balm indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Atoka and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Atoka last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your lemon balm in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Atoka

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Atoka

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