Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. 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 Longboat Key can be looked at to determine when you can 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 not a good idea to plant black pepper until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant black pepper in Longboat Key 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. If you wait 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

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

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Longboat Key and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Longboat Key it frosts late in the year after January 31 be ready to protect your black pepper if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Longboat Key

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 Longboat Key

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Longboat Key.