One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

The first opportunity to plant bell peppers in Newport can be determined by looking at 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.

Bell Peppers require warm weather which tells us that you must wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant bell peppers in Newport 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 really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your bell peppers indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Newport the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Newport is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Newport you get a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your bell peppers if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Newport

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Newport

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