One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of determining when it's a good idea to plant nigella is to check out the USDA zone info for Charleston.

Planting Calendar for Nigella

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

Nigella do ok in cold weather which means that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant nigella in Charleston 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. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your nigella indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Charleston the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Charleston is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Charleston you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your nigella if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Charleston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Charleston

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