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.

A way of estimating when to plant nicotiana is to refer to the USDA zone info for Marengo.

Planting Calendar for Nicotiana

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

Nicotiana do not do well in cold weather which tells us that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant nicotiana in Marengo 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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 Marengo the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Marengo is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Marengo there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your nicotiana if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Marengo

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 Marengo

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