When to Plant Bell Peppers in Lake Villa, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Lake Villa it's possible to determine when it's possible to plant bell peppers.


Planting Calendar for Bell Peppers

Frost tolerance for bell peppers: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost has passed.

Since bell peppers require warm weather it's important to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant bell peppers in Lake Villa 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 bell peppers and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your bell peppers may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your bell peppers indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Lake Villa the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lake Villa may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake Villa last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your bell peppers in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Villa

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-15°F
Highest Expected Low-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Lake Villa

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lake Villa.