Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first chance to plant sweet peas in Normal can be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.

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 do ok in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant sweet peas in Normal 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. Any later than that and your sweet peas may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your sweet peas indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Normal the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Normal is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Normal you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your sweet peas in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Normal

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 Normal

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