One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant eggplants is to use the USDA zone info for Pittsburgh.

Planting Calendar for Eggplants

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

Since eggplants do not do well in cold weather it's important to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant eggplants in Pittsburgh 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 eggplants and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your eggplants may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your eggplants indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Pittsburgh. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Pittsburgh is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Pittsburgh you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your eggplants in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Pittsburgh

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 Pittsburgh

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