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.

The first chance to plant spearmint in Richmond can be determined by checking out 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.

Since spearmint are very cold tolerant you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant spearmint in Richmond is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant spearmint and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your spearmint may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your spearmint indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Richmond. You can expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Richmond is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Richmond you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your spearmint in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Richmond

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Richmond

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