One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

The earliest that you can plant snow peas in Rapid City should be estimated by reviewing 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.

You can plant snow peas much earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant snow peas in Rapid City 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 snow peas and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your snow peas may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your snow 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 Rapid City. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rapid City 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 Rapid City you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your snow peas in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rapid City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Rapid City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rapid City.