🫑When to Plant Pepper (2026)
Loves heat. Needs a long warm head start indoors before transplanting.
- Type: Warm-season
- Method: Transplant
- Days to harvest: 70
- Spacing: 18" apart
- Sun: Full sun (6-8h)
- Companions: basil, onion, carrot
Is Pepper right for your USDA zone?
Pepper is a warm-season crop that needs frost-free weather and warm soil to thrive. Gardeners in zones 5b through 10b have the longest pepper season. In cooler zones (3a-5a), choose fast-maturing varieties (60 days or less) and start seeds indoors to extend your window. In hot zones (9a-10b), pepper may struggle in peak summer — consider planting in February-March for a spring crop before the heat.
Pepper needs about 70 days from transplant to harvest, so any zone with at least 84frost-free days can grow it successfully. Check your zone's specific dates in the table below.
Pepper planting dates by zone (2026)
| Zone | Start Indoors | Sow / Transplant | Harvest From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 3a | Mar 20 | May 29 | Aug 7 |
| Zone 3b | Mar 20 | May 29 | Aug 7 |
| Zone 4a | Mar 15 | May 24 | Aug 2 |
| Zone 4b | Mar 10 | May 19 | Jul 28 |
| Zone 5a | Mar 5 | May 14 | Jul 23 |
| Zone 5b | Feb 28 | May 9 | Jul 18 |
| Zone 6a | Feb 23 | May 4 | Jul 13 |
| Zone 6b | Feb 18 | Apr 29 | Jul 8 |
| Zone 7a | Feb 13 | Apr 24 | Jul 3 |
| Zone 7b | Feb 8 | Apr 19 | Jun 28 |
| Zone 8a | Jan 28 | Apr 8 | Jun 17 |
| Zone 8b | Jan 18 | Mar 29 | Jun 7 |
| Zone 9a | Dec 31 | Mar 11 | May 20 |
| Zone 9b | Dec 16 | Feb 24 | May 5 |
| Zone 10a | Dec 6 | Feb 14 | Apr 25 |
| Zone 10b | Nov 20 | Jan 29 | Apr 9 |