One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

In Petal you can figure out when it's possible to plant bell peppers by using 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 has passed.

You can not plant bell peppers until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant bell peppers in Petal 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your bell peppers indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Petal is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Petal you get a frost after March 15 so always be ready to protect your bell peppers if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Petal

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Petal

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