The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant pea is to check out the USDA zone info for Mount Vernon.

Planting Calendar for Pea

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

Since pea do well in cold you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant pea in Mount Vernon 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 pea and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your pea may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your pea indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Mount Vernon. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Mount Vernon is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Mount Vernon it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your pea in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mount Vernon

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 Mount Vernon

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Mount Vernon.