One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Wilmette can be looked at to determine when it's the best time to plant black pepper.

Planting Calendar for Black pepper

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

Black pepper require warm weather which means that you must wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant black pepper in Wilmette 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. Any later than that and your black pepper may not have a chance to fully mature. 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

In Wilmette the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Wilmette is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Wilmette last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your black pepper if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Wilmette

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 Wilmette

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