When to Plant Field Peas in Missoula, MT

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Missoula can be used to estimate when it's possible to plant field peas.


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 are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can get them planted earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant field peas
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant field peas
Probably not a good time to plant field peas

The earliest that you can plant field peas in Missoula 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your field peas may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your field peas indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Missoula. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Missoula and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Missoula it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your field peas if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Missoula

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-15°F
Highest Expected Low-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Missoula

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