When to Plant Peas in Cary, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when to plant peas is to look at the USDA zone info for Cary.


Planting Calendar for Peas

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

You can plant peas earlier in the year because they are very cold tolerant.

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

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Cary. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Cary may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Cary there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your peas if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Cary

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-15°F
Highest Expected Low-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Cary

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