One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

The USDA zone info for Maricopa can be reffered to in order to figure out when to plant black pepper.

Planting Calendar for Black pepper

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

It's not a good idea to plant black pepper until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant black pepper in Maricopa 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. If you are starting your black pepper indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Maricopa. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Maricopa is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Maricopa you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your black pepper in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Maricopa

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 Maricopa

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