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.

In Waterloo you can estimate when to plant pea by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Pea

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

Pea can survive in quite a bit of cold which means that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant pea in Waterloo 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 pea and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your pea may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your pea indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Waterloo. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Waterloo is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Waterloo last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your pea in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Waterloo

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Waterloo

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