Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Rensselaer should be reviewed to determine when it's the best time 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 ok in quite a bit of cold which means that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant peas in Rensselaer 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your peas indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Rensselaer. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rensselaer is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Rensselaer last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your peas if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rensselaer

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 Rensselaer

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