One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant bell peppers is to check out the USDA zone info for University Place.

Planting Calendar for Bell Peppers

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

Since bell peppers require warm weather you really should 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 University Place 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 bell peppers and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your bell peppers may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your bell peppers indoors.

Last Frost Date

In University Place the average date of last frost happens on March 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for University Place and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in University Place you get a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your bell peppers in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for University Place

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in University Place

You may be interested in your other planting guides for University Place.