One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

A way of determining when it's a good idea to plant nicotiana is to check out the USDA zone info for Alachua.

Planting Calendar for Nicotiana

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant nicotiana until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant nicotiana in Alachua 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. Any later than that and your nicotiana may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your nicotiana indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Alachua may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Alachua you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your nicotiana if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Alachua

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Alachua

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