Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. 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 making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant bell peppers is to look at the USDA zone info for Charleston.

Planting Calendar for Bell Peppers

Frost tolerance for bell peppers:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

You can not plant bell peppers until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant bell peppers in Charleston 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 fully mature. Starting your bell peppers indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Charleston. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Charleston is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Charleston there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your bell peppers if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Charleston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Charleston

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