One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

A common way of getting a good idea when it's the best time to plant bell peppers is to refer to the USDA zone info for Kankakee.

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 not a good idea to plant bell peppers until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant bell peppers in Kankakee 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your bell peppers may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your bell peppers indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Kankakee. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Kankakee and it is different every year. Half of the time in Kankakee it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your bell peppers in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Kankakee

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 Kankakee

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