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.

One way of figuring out when to plant black pepper is to refer to the USDA zone info for Gretna.

Planting Calendar for Black pepper

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

It's a bad idea to plant black pepper until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant black pepper in Gretna is March. However, you really should wait until April 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 September. Any later than that and your black pepper may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your black pepper indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Gretna. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Gretna and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Gretna it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to cover your black pepper if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Gretna

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Gretna

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