One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your 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 can figure out when it's possible to plant bell peppers in Richmond by checking out 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 has passed.

Since bell peppers do not do well in cold weather you must wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant bell peppers in Richmond is March. However, you really should wait until April 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 September. Any later than that and your bell peppers may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your bell peppers indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on February 15 in Richmond. You should expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Richmond is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Richmond you get a frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your bell peppers in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Richmond

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Richmond

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