The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to determine when you can plant black pepper by looking at the USDA zone info for Monticello.

Planting Calendar for Black pepper

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

Black pepper are not cold tolerant which means that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant black pepper in Monticello 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. If you wait any later than that and your black pepper may not have a chance to grow to maturity. 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

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

Since the USDA zone info for Monticello may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Monticello last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to cover your black pepper in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Monticello

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 Monticello

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