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

The USDA zone info for Hampshire can be reviewed to figure out when it's possible to plant bell peppers.

Planting Calendar for Bell Peppers

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant bell peppers until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant bell peppers in Hampshire 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 grow to maturity. Starting your bell peppers indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Hampshire. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Hampshire may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Hampshire there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your bell peppers if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Hampshire

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Hampshire

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