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.

A common way of determining when to plant black pepper is to refer to the USDA zone info for Auburn.

Planting Calendar for Black pepper

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

You can not plant black pepper until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant black pepper in Auburn is March. However, you really should wait until April 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 really do well. Starting your black pepper indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Auburn. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Auburn and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Auburn you get a frost after February 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your black pepper if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Auburn

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Auburn

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