When to Plant Pea in Bessemer, AL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can figure out when it's possible to plant pea in Bessemer by reviewing the USDA zone info.


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 very cold tolerant you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year 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 Bessemer 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 pea and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your pea may not have a chance to really do well. 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 the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Bessemer. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Bessemer is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Bessemer last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your pea in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Bessemer

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)November 15
Lowest Expected Low10°F
Highest Expected Low15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Bessemer

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