One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Salem you should be able to determine when it's the best time to plant nicotiana.

Planting Calendar for Nicotiana

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

Since nicotiana are not cold tolerant you need to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant nicotiana in Salem 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. Any later than that and your nicotiana may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your nicotiana indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Salem. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Salem is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Salem you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your nicotiana in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Salem

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 Salem

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