The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Franklin you can estimate when it's the best time to plant black pepper by looking at 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 has passed.

You can not plant black pepper until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant black pepper in Franklin 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your black pepper may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your black pepper indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Franklin. You should expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Franklin and it is different every year. Half of the time in Franklin it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your black pepper if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Franklin

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 Franklin

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