Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of figuring out when you can plant peas is to examine the USDA zone info for Lima.

Planting Calendar for Peas

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

Peas do ok in quite a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant peas in Lima 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. If you are starting your peas indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Lima. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Lima may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Lima last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your peas in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lima

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

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

Plants to Grow in Lima

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