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

The first opportunity to plant black pepper in Cleveland can be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

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.

Black pepper are not cold tolerant which means that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant black pepper in Cleveland 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. If you wait any later than that and your black pepper may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your black pepper indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Cleveland. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Cleveland is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Cleveland there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your black pepper in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Cleveland

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Cleveland

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