One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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 Socorro can be determined by reviewing 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 probably a bad idea to plant bell peppers until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant bell peppers in Socorro 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. If you wait any later than that and your bell peppers may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your bell peppers indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Socorro. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Socorro is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Socorro there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your bell peppers in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Socorro

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Socorro

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