Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Portola Valley can be looked at to estimate when it's the best time to plant pea.

Planting Calendar for Pea

Frost tolerance for pea:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since pea are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant pea in Portola Valley is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant pea and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your pea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your pea indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Portola Valley the average date of last frost happens on January 31. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Portola Valley is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Portola Valley you get a frost after January 31 so always be ready to protect your pea in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Portola Valley

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Portola Valley

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Portola Valley.