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

You will be able to determine when you can plant pea by using the USDA zone info for Elgin.

Planting Calendar for Pea

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

Pea tend to make it in pretty solid cold which means that you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant pea in Elgin 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your pea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your pea indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Elgin. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Elgin is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Elgin last frost occurs after March 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your pea if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Elgin

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Elgin

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