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

In Lake Elmo you can estimate when you can plant sweet peas by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Sweet Peas

Frost tolerance for sweet peas:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Sweet Peas do well in some cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant sweet peas in Lake Elmo 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 sweet peas and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your sweet peas may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your sweet peas indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on May 15 in Lake Elmo. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Lake Elmo is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Lake Elmo you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your sweet peas in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Elmo

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Lake Elmo

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lake Elmo.