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

You will be able to figure out when it's the best time to plant black pepper by referring to the USDA zone info for Knoxville.

Planting Calendar for Black pepper

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

Since black pepper do not do well in cold weather you have to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant black pepper in Knoxville 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 few weeks earlier by starting your black pepper indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Knoxville. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Knoxville is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Knoxville you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your black pepper in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Knoxville

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 Knoxville

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