One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

By using the USDA zone info for Hercules it's possible to estimate when you can plant sweet peas.

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 tend to make it in some cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant sweet peas in Hercules 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 sweet peas and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your sweet peas may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your sweet peas indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Hercules. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Hercules is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Hercules you get a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your sweet peas if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hercules

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 Hercules

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