Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Des Plaines you can estimate when it's possible to plant pea by checking out 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 cold which means that you can get them planted much earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant pea in Des Plaines 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 pea and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your pea may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your pea indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Des Plaines. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Des Plaines may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Des Plaines you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your pea in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Des Plaines

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 Des Plaines

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Des Plaines.