When to Plant Snow peas in South Portland, ME

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out 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.

A common way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant snow peas is to look at the USDA zone info for South Portland.


Planting Calendar for Snow peas

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

Since snow peas are very cold tolerant you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant snow peas in South Portland 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. Starting your snow peas indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for South Portland is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in South Portland there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your snow peas if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for South Portland

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 South Portland

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Portland.