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.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Mchenry it's a good idea to figure out when to plant peas.

Planting Calendar for Peas

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

Peas do well in cold which tells us that you can start planting them much earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant peas in Mchenry 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. If you wait 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

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Mchenry. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Mchenry is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Mchenry you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your peas in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mchenry

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 Mchenry

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