One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The best time to plant black pepper in Sparta should be estimated by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Black pepper

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

Black pepper are not cold tolerant which tells us 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 black pepper in Sparta 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your black pepper may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your black pepper indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Sparta. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Sparta is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Sparta you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your black pepper if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sparta

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Sparta

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