When to Plant Pea in Anchorage, AK

One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of determining when to plant pea is to refer to the USDA zone info for Anchorage.


Planting Calendar for Pea

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

Pea are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted much earlier than more sensitive plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant pea
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant pea
Probably not a good time to plant pea

The earliest that you can plant pea in Anchorage is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant pea and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your pea may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your pea indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on May 15 in Anchorage. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Anchorage and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Anchorage it frosts late in the year after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your pea if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Anchorage

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 Anchorage

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