One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Nashville should be reviewed to estimate when you can plant nigella.

Planting Calendar for Nigella

Frost tolerance for nigella:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since nigella do well in cold you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Nashville. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Nashville is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Nashville you get a frost after March 15 so always be ready to cover your nigella if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Nashville

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 Nashville

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