When to Plant Sweet Peas in Olney, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Olney you can figure out when it's the best time to plant sweet peas by reviewing 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.

Sweet Peas are barely cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant sweet peas in Olney 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 really do well. If you are starting your sweet peas indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Olney the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Olney is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Olney you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your sweet peas in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Olney

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-10°F
Highest Expected Low-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Olney

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