One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

A common way of getting a good idea when it's the best time to plant field peas is to consult the USDA zone info for Virginia.

Planting Calendar for Field Peas

Frost tolerance for field peas:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Field Peas do ok in some cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant field peas in Virginia 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 field peas and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your field peas may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your field peas indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on May 15 in Virginia. It might get as low as -35°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Virginia and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Virginia there is a last frost after May 15 so always be ready to cover your field peas if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Virginia

Here is the info for USDA Zone 3b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-35°F
Highest Expected Low	-30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -30°F.

Plants to Grow in Virginia

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