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

By looking at the USDA zone info for La Crosse you should be able to estimate when it's the best time to plant pea.

Planting Calendar for Pea

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

Pea can survive in quite a bit of cold which means that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant pea in La Crosse 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 pea and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your pea may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your pea indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for La Crosse is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in La Crosse you get surprised by a frost after May 15 be ready to cover your pea in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for La Crosse

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 La Crosse

You may be interested in your other planting guides for La Crosse.