When to Plant Peas in Marseilles, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant peas in Marseilles should be figured out by checking out the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Peas

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

Peas tend to make it in a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Marseilles. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Marseilles may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Marseilles you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your peas in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Marseilles

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 Marseilles

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