When to Plant Sweet Peas in Santa Maria, CA

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

By using the USDA zone info for Santa Maria you will be able to figure out 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.

You can plant sweet peas a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant sweet peas
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant sweet peas
Probably not a good time to plant sweet peas

The earliest that you can plant sweet peas in Santa Maria 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. Any later than that and your sweet peas may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your sweet peas indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Santa Maria. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Santa Maria is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Santa Maria you get a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your sweet peas in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Maria

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 Low25°F
Highest Expected Low30°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 Santa Maria

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Santa Maria.