One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can figure out when it's possible to plant bell peppers in Dowagiac by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Bell Peppers

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

It's a bad idea to plant bell peppers until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant bell peppers in Dowagiac 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. Any later than that and your bell peppers may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your bell peppers indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Dowagiac. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Dowagiac may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Dowagiac last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your bell peppers in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Dowagiac

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 Dowagiac

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