One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant field peas is to refer to the USDA zone info for Manchester.

Planting Calendar for Field Peas

Frost tolerance for field peas:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant field peas just a bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant field peas in Manchester 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 fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your field peas indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Manchester. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Manchester is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Manchester you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your field peas if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Manchester

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 Manchester

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