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.

A way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant black pepper is to look at the USDA zone info for Atlantic.

Planting Calendar for Black pepper

Frost tolerance for black pepper:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's probably not a good idea to plant black pepper until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant black pepper in Atlantic 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 black pepper and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your black pepper may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your black pepper indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Atlantic the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Atlantic is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Atlantic there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your black pepper if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Atlantic

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Atlantic

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