The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Carbondale you can determine when it's a good idea to plant eggplants by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Eggplants

Frost tolerance for eggplants:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

It's not a good idea to plant eggplants until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant eggplants in Carbondale 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 eggplants and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your eggplants may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your eggplants indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Carbondale. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Carbondale may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Carbondale you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your eggplants if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Carbondale

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Carbondale

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