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.

In Ames you can determine when you can plant field peas by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Field Peas

Frost tolerance for field peas:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Field Peas do ok in a little bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant field peas in Ames 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 field peas and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your field peas may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your field peas indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Ames. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ames may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Ames last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your field peas in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ames

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°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 -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Ames

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