One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your 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.

A way of figuring out when to plant pea is to look at the USDA zone info for Billings.

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 quite a bit earlier in the year because they are very cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant pea in Billings 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 pea and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your pea may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your pea 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 Billings. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Billings is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Billings there is a last frost after May 15 be ready to protect your pea if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Billings

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Billings

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