The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Lake Bluff you can determine when it's possible to plant field peas by referring to 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.

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

The earliest that you can plant field peas in Lake Bluff 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. 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

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

Since the USDA zone info for Lake Bluff is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Lake Bluff it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your field peas if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Bluff

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 Lake Bluff

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lake Bluff.