One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to determine when you can plant bell peppers by using the USDA zone info for Carlsbad.

Planting Calendar for Bell Peppers

Frost tolerance for bell peppers:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Bell Peppers are not cold tolerant which means that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant bell peppers in Carlsbad 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 bell peppers and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your bell peppers may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your bell peppers indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on January 31 in Carlsbad. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Carlsbad is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Carlsbad last frost occurs after January 31 so be sure to be ready to cover your bell peppers if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Carlsbad

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 Carlsbad

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