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 nasturtium by looking at the USDA zone info for South Bend.

Planting Calendar for Nasturtium

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

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

The earliest that you can plant nasturtium in South Bend 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. Any later than that and your nasturtium may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your nasturtium indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in South Bend. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for South Bend is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in South Bend it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your nasturtium in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for South Bend

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 South Bend

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Bend.