One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You should be able to estimate when it's the best time to plant black pepper by looking at the USDA zone info for Herkimer.

Planting Calendar for Black pepper

Frost tolerance for black pepper:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's probably not a good idea to plant black pepper until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant black pepper in Herkimer 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. Any later than that and your black pepper may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your black pepper indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Herkimer. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Herkimer is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Herkimer there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your black pepper in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Herkimer

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

Plants to Grow in Herkimer

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