One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your 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 way of determining when to plant nigella is to look at the USDA zone info for San Antonio.

Planting Calendar for Nigella

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

Nigella tend to make it in pretty solid cold which means that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant nigella in San Antonio 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 fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your nigella indoors.

Last Frost Date

In San Antonio the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for San Antonio may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in San Antonio there is a last frost after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your nigella in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for San Antonio

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in San Antonio

You may be interested in your other planting guides for San Antonio.