One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In San Marcos you can figure out when you can plant nicotiana by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Nicotiana

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant nicotiana until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant nicotiana in San Marcos 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your nicotiana may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your nicotiana indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in San Marcos. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for San Marcos is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in San Marcos you get a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your nicotiana in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for San Marcos

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 Marcos

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