One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 estimating when it's a good idea to plant black pepper is to consult the USDA zone info for Goleta.

Planting Calendar for Black pepper

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

You can not 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 Goleta 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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 few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Goleta. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Goleta is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Goleta last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to cover your black pepper in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Goleta

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 Goleta

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