Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out 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 estimating when it's a good idea to plant sweet peas is to use the USDA zone info for Lake Zurich.

Planting Calendar for Sweet Peas

Frost tolerance for sweet peas:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant sweet peas a bit earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant sweet peas in Lake Zurich is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant sweet peas and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your sweet peas may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your sweet peas indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Lake Zurich. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Lake Zurich is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake Zurich you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your sweet peas if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Zurich

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 Zurich

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