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 USDA zone info for Fitchburg should be used to determine when it's a good idea to plant sweet peas.

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.

Since sweet peas do ok in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant sweet peas in Fitchburg 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your sweet peas may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your sweet peas indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Fitchburg. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Fitchburg may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Fitchburg it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your sweet peas in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fitchburg

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 Fitchburg

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