One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 earliest that you can plant pea in Urbana can be figured out by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Pea

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

Since pea are very cold tolerant you can plant them earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant pea in Urbana 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 really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your pea indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Urbana. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Urbana and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Urbana last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your pea in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Urbana

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 Urbana

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