Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of making a decision about when to plant nicotiana is to refer to the USDA zone info for National City.

Planting Calendar for Nicotiana

Frost tolerance for nicotiana:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Since nicotiana do not do well in cold weather you have to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant nicotiana in National City 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 nicotiana and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your nicotiana may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your nicotiana indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in National City. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 35°F.

Since the USDA zone info for National City is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in National City last frost occurs after January 31 be ready to protect your nicotiana in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for National City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in National City

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