When to Plant Nigella in Lancaster, PA

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.

A common way of getting a good idea when to plant nigella is to look at the USDA zone info for Lancaster.


Planting Calendar for Nigella

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

Nigella are very cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant nigella
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant nigella
Probably not a good time to plant nigella

The earliest that you can plant nigella in Lancaster 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. Any later than that and your nigella may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your nigella indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Lancaster. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lancaster is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Lancaster there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your nigella if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lancaster

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 Low0°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 Lancaster

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