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.

A common way of getting a good idea when it's possible to plant pea is to consult the USDA zone info for Zone 9a.

Planting Calendar for Pea

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

Since pea are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant pea in Zone 9a is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant pea and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and 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 is on February 15 in Zone 9a. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Zone 9a may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Zone 9a you get a frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your pea in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 9a

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°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 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 9a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 9a.