One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By using the USDA zone info for Athens it's possible to determine when it's the best time to plant nicotiana.

Planting Calendar for Nicotiana

Frost tolerance for nicotiana:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Since nicotiana require warm weather you must wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant nicotiana in Athens is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant nicotiana and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your nicotiana may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your nicotiana indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Athens. You can expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Athens is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Athens there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your nicotiana in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Athens

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 Athens

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