One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

A common way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant bell peppers is to refer to the USDA zone info for Milliken.

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.

You can not plant bell peppers until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant bell peppers in Milliken is April. However, you really should wait until May 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 August. If you wait any later than that and your bell peppers may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your bell peppers indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Milliken. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Milliken is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Milliken last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your bell peppers if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Milliken

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Milliken

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