One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant pea in Santa Monica can be determined by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Pea

Frost tolerance for pea:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Pea do well in pretty solid cold which means that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant pea in Santa Monica 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 grow to maturity. If you are starting your pea indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Santa Monica. You should expect an average low temperature of 35°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Santa Monica is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Santa Monica you get a frost after January 31 be ready to protect your pea if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Monica

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in Santa Monica

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