When to Plant Bell Peppers in Methuen, MA

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.

The USDA zone info for Methuen can be reffered to in order to estimate when it's possible to plant bell peppers.


Planting Calendar for Bell Peppers

Frost tolerance for bell peppers: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Since bell peppers do not do well in cold weather you must wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant bell peppers
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant bell peppers
Probably not a good time to plant bell peppers

The earliest that you can plant bell peppers in Methuen 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 bell peppers and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your bell peppers may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your bell peppers indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Methuen the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Methuen is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Methuen you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your bell peppers if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Methuen

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-10°F
Highest Expected Low-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Methuen

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