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

A way of getting a good idea when to plant sweet peas is to refer to the USDA zone info for Clearlake.

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 can survive in mild cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant sweet peas in Clearlake 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 sweet peas and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your sweet peas may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your sweet 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 March 15 in Clearlake. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Clearlake is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Clearlake you get a frost after March 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your sweet peas if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Clearlake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Clearlake

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