One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

One way of determining when to plant snow peas is to use the USDA zone info for Rockford.

Planting Calendar for Snow peas

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

Snow peas do ok in a bit of cold which means that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant snow peas in Rockford is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant snow peas and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your snow peas may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your snow peas indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Rockford. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Rockford and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Rockford you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your snow peas if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rockford

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Rockford

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