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

By checking out the USDA zone info for Ripon it's a good idea to figure out when it's a good idea to plant bell peppers.

Planting Calendar for Bell Peppers

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

Bell Peppers require warm weather which means that it is necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant bell peppers in Ripon 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. Any later than that and your bell peppers may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your bell peppers indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Ripon. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ripon and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Ripon last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your bell peppers in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ripon

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°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 -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Ripon

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