One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can estimate when it's possible to plant snow peas in Chicago by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Snow peas

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

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

The earliest that you can plant snow peas in Chicago 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 snow peas and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your snow peas may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your snow peas indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Chicago the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Chicago is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Chicago there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your snow peas if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Chicago

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Chicago

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