One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 earliest that you can plant snow peas in North Chicago can be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Snow peas

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

You can plant snow peas much earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant snow peas in North Chicago 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 snow peas and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your snow peas may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your snow peas indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In North Chicago the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for North Chicago is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in North Chicago last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your snow peas in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for North Chicago

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 North Chicago

You may be interested in your other planting guides for North Chicago.