Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. 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 Carthage can be looked at to determine when it's a good idea to plant nigella.

Planting Calendar for Nigella

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

Since nigella do well in cold you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant nigella in Carthage 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 really do well. Starting your nigella indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Carthage the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Carthage is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Carthage it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to cover your nigella in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Carthage

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Carthage

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