When to Plant Peas in Watertown, NY

One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your 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.

You will be able to figure out when to plant peas by using the USDA zone info for Watertown.


Planting Calendar for Peas

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

Peas do well in pretty solid cold which tells us that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant peas in Watertown 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 peas and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your peas may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your peas indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on May 15 in Watertown. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Watertown is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Watertown it frosts late in the year after May 15 be ready to cover your peas if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Watertown

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)September 15
Lowest Expected Low-25°F
Highest Expected Low-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Watertown

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