Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By using the USDA zone info for Mentor you should be able to figure out when it's possible 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.

Nigella do well in a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them much earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant nigella in Mentor 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your nigella may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your nigella indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Mentor the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Mentor is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Mentor you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your nigella in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mentor

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 Mentor

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