One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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.

A common way of determining when you can plant pea is to look at the USDA zone info for Atherton.

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 other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant pea in Atherton 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. Any later than that and your pea may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your pea indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Atherton. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Atherton may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Atherton there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to protect your pea if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Atherton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°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 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Atherton

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