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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Visalia it's a good idea to figure out when it's possible 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 probably a bad idea to 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 Visalia 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 fully mature. 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 Visalia. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Visalia is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Visalia you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your black pepper if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Visalia

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 Visalia

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