One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. 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 Carthage should be looked at to estimate when it's the best time to plant pea.

Planting Calendar for Pea

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

You can plant pea a lot earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant pea in Carthage 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 grow to maturity. 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 when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Carthage. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Carthage may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Carthage you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your pea if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Carthage

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Carthage

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