One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

A common way of determining when it's possible to plant nigella is to examine the USDA zone info for Clarinda.

Planting Calendar for Nigella

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

Nigella do well in cold which tells us that you can start planting them much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant nigella in Clarinda 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. Any later than that and your nigella may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your nigella indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Clarinda may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Clarinda you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your nigella if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Clarinda

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 Clarinda

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