One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

The first opportunity to plant peas in Ruidoso can be figured out by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Peas

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

Since peas are very cold tolerant you can plant them much earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant peas in Ruidoso 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 peas and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your peas may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your peas indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that USDA zone info for Ruidoso is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Ruidoso it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your peas in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ruidoso

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°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 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Ruidoso

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