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.

In South Milwaukee you can determine when it's a good idea to plant field peas by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Field Peas

Frost tolerance for field peas:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Field Peas do ok in a little bit of cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant field peas in South Milwaukee 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 field peas and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your field peas may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your field peas indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In South Milwaukee the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for South Milwaukee is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in South Milwaukee it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your field peas in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for South Milwaukee

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in South Milwaukee

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Milwaukee.