One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

You should be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant black pepper by referring to the USDA zone info for Apache Junction.

Planting Calendar for Black pepper

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

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

The earliest that you can plant black pepper in Apache Junction 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 black pepper and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your black pepper may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your black pepper indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Apache Junction. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Apache Junction and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Apache Junction you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your black pepper if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Apache Junction

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 Apache Junction

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Apache Junction.