Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By using the USDA zone info for Oak Park you should be able to figure out when it's a good idea 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 has passed.

It's not a good idea to plant black pepper until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant black pepper in Oak Park 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your black pepper may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your black pepper indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Oak Park the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Oak Park is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Oak Park there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your black pepper if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Oak Park

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 Oak Park

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Oak Park.