One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The USDA zone info for Helena should be reffered to in order to determine when it's a good idea to plant peas.

Planting Calendar for Peas

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

Peas are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which tells us that you can start planting them much earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant peas in Helena 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 peas and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your peas may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your peas indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on May 15 in Helena. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Helena is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Helena last frost occurs after May 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your peas in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Helena

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 Helena

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