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.

You will be able to estimate when it's the best time to plant field peas by referring to the USDA zone info for Columbia.

Planting Calendar for Field Peas

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

Since field peas are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant field peas in Columbia 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 field peas and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your field peas may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your field peas indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Columbia. 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 Columbia is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Columbia it frosts late in the year after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your field peas if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Columbia

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Columbia

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