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.

A way of making a decision about when to plant black pepper is to check out the USDA zone info for Yuma.

Planting Calendar for Black pepper

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

Black pepper are not cold tolerant which tells us that it's important to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant black pepper in Yuma is February. However, you really should wait until March 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 September. Any later than that and your black pepper may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your black pepper indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Yuma. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Yuma is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Yuma you get surprised by a frost after January 31 be ready to cover your black pepper in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Yuma

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Yuma

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