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.

In Lake Zurich you can determine when it's a good idea to plant bell peppers 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 the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Bell Peppers are not cold tolerant which means that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant bell peppers in Lake Zurich 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. Any later than that and your bell peppers may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your bell peppers indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Lake Zurich. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lake Zurich is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Lake Zurich last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your bell peppers in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Zurich

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 Lake Zurich

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lake Zurich.