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 Sterling can be reffered to in order to determine when you can plant nasturtium.

Planting Calendar for Nasturtium

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

Nasturtium do not do well in cold weather which tells us that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant nasturtium in Sterling 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 nasturtium and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your nasturtium may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your nasturtium indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Sterling is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Sterling last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to cover your nasturtium if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sterling

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 Sterling

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