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.

The USDA zone info for Montebello can be reviewed to estimate when to plant black pepper.

Planting Calendar for Black pepper

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

It's a bad idea to plant black pepper until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant black pepper in Montebello 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your black pepper may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your black pepper indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Montebello. You should expect an average low temperature of 35°F in 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 Montebello and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Montebello you get a frost after January 31 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your black pepper in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Montebello

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in Montebello

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