Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first chance to plant sweet peas in Merced should be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.

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 are barely cold tolerant which means that you can plant them slightly earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant sweet peas in Merced 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 fully mature. You can get started a little bit 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 Merced. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Merced and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Merced you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your sweet peas if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Merced

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Merced

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