One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant oregano is to check out the USDA zone info for Chesapeake.

Planting Calendar for Oregano

Frost tolerance for oregano:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Oregano do well in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant oregano in Chesapeake 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 oregano and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your oregano may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your oregano indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Chesapeake. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Chesapeake is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Chesapeake you get a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your oregano in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Chesapeake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Chesapeake

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