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.

It's possible to determine when you can plant nicotiana by referring to the USDA zone info for Sparta.

Planting Calendar for Nicotiana

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

Nicotiana are not cold tolerant which tells us that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant nicotiana in Sparta is May. However, you really should wait until June 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. If you wait any later than that and your nicotiana may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your nicotiana indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on May 15 in Sparta. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Sparta may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Sparta last frost occurs after May 15 so always be ready to cover your nicotiana in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sparta

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Sparta

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