One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

You will be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant bell peppers by reviewing the USDA zone info for Chattanooga.

Planting Calendar for Bell Peppers

Frost tolerance for bell peppers:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's a bad idea to plant bell peppers until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Chattanooga. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Chattanooga is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Chattanooga last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your bell peppers if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Chattanooga

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 Chattanooga

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