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

A common way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant black pepper is to use the USDA zone info for Mount Sterling.

Planting Calendar for Black pepper

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

Since black pepper require warm weather it is necessary to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant black pepper in Mount Sterling 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 really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your black pepper indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Mount Sterling. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Mount Sterling is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Mount Sterling there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your black pepper in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mount Sterling

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 Mount Sterling

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Mount Sterling.