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.

One way of estimating when it's the best time to plant sweet peas is to examine the USDA zone info for Marseilles.

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.

Sweet Peas tend to make it in a tiny bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant sweet peas in Marseilles 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. If you are starting your sweet peas indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

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 is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Marseilles last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your sweet peas if you have 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.