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.

A common way of determining when it's possible to plant black pepper is to check out the USDA zone info for Salem.

Planting Calendar for Black pepper

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

Since black pepper require warm weather you need to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant black pepper in Salem 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. Starting your black pepper indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Salem. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Salem and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Salem you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your black pepper in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Salem

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 Salem

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