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.

It's possible to determine when it's the best time to plant nicotiana by checking out the USDA zone info for Grinnell.

Planting Calendar for Nicotiana

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

You can not plant nicotiana until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant nicotiana in Grinnell 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 little bit earlier by starting your nicotiana indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Grinnell the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Grinnell and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Grinnell last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your nicotiana if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Grinnell

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Grinnell

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