One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

In Madison you can estimate when you can plant snow peas by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Snow peas

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

Since snow peas are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

In Madison the average date of last frost happens on May 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Madison and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Madison it frosts late in the year after May 15 be ready to cover your snow peas in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Madison

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 Madison

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