One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Raleigh it's a good idea to determine when you can plant sweet peas.

Planting Calendar for Sweet Peas

Frost tolerance for sweet peas:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since sweet peas do ok in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant sweet peas in Raleigh 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 sweet peas and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your sweet peas may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your sweet peas indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Raleigh. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Raleigh and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Raleigh you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your sweet peas if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Raleigh

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Raleigh

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