One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

A common way of estimating when you can plant black pepper is to refer to the USDA zone info for Clearwater.

Planting Calendar for Black pepper

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

Black pepper are not cold tolerant which means that you must wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant black pepper in Clearwater 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. Any later than that and your black pepper may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your black pepper indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Clearwater. You can expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Clearwater is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Clearwater there is a last frost after January 31 be ready to protect your black pepper if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Clearwater

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Clearwater

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