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.

A way of determining when it's a good idea to plant pea is to examine the USDA zone info for Elizabeth City.

Planting Calendar for Pea

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

Since pea do well in cold you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Elizabeth City. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Elizabeth City is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Elizabeth City there is a last frost after March 15 so always be ready to protect your pea if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elizabeth City

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 Elizabeth City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Elizabeth City.