When to Plant Snow peas in Downers Grove, IL

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.

The earliest that you can plant snow peas in Downers Grove should be determined by using 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.

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

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

The earliest that you can plant snow peas in Downers Grove 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 really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your snow peas indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Downers Grove. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Downers Grove is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Downers Grove last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your snow peas in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Downers Grove

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 Downers Grove

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Downers Grove.