One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Tampa you should be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant peas.

Planting Calendar for Peas

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

Since peas are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant peas in Tampa 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 peas and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your peas may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your peas indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on February 15 in Tampa. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Tampa is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Tampa you get a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your peas if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Tampa

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 Tampa

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