One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

You can figure out when it's possible to plant bell peppers in Sarasota by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Bell Peppers

Frost tolerance for bell peppers:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

You really shouldn't plant bell peppers until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant bell peppers in Sarasota 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 bell peppers and expect a good harvest is probably September. 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 few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Sarasota the average date of last frost happens on February 15. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Sarasota is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Sarasota last frost occurs after February 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your bell peppers if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Sarasota

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 Sarasota

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