Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Fort Smith you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant bell peppers by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Bell Peppers

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant bell peppers until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant bell peppers in Fort Smith 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. If you wait any later than that and your bell peppers may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your bell peppers indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Fort Smith. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Fort Smith and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Fort Smith you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your bell peppers if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Smith

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Fort Smith

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fort Smith.