One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can determine when to plant bell peppers in Modesto by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Bell Peppers

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

Bell Peppers require warm weather which means that you really should wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant bell peppers in Modesto 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 bell peppers and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your bell peppers may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your bell peppers indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Modesto. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Modesto and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Modesto it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to cover your bell peppers in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Modesto

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 Modesto

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