The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine 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 Salem can be read 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.

It's not a good idea to plant bell peppers until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant bell peppers in Salem 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your bell peppers may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your bell peppers indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Salem. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Salem and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Salem last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your bell peppers in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Salem

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 Salem

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