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When to plant Garden Peas

Computed from land-grant Extension planting-window rules (cited below), localized to real ZIP-level median frost dates, not a single national guess. These are national-generic rules by hardiness class; individual state Extension offices layer their own regional adjustment on top (earlier in the Deep South, later in the Upper Midwest). Enter your ZIP for your own dates, or read the four representative locations below.

Planting windows and crop timing here are computed from USDA/NOAA climate data and the university extension sources cited below, not a site visit or soil test. Treat this as a starting point: local conditions vary, and a local nursery or extension office can advise on your exact site. See our full Disclaimer.

Representative timing, by climate band

When to plant Garden Peas in four US climates

Each column is the most nursery-dense location in our directory within that USDA zone band, computed from that location's own real median frost dates, not a made-up example.

Stage Zones 1-5 (cold winters)
Fort Plain, NY 		Zones 6-7 (temperate)
McMinnville, TN 		Zones 8-9 (warm)
Apopka, FL 		Zones 10-13 (hot, frost rare or absent)
Loxahatchee, FL
Start seed indoors Not available Not available Not available –
Direct-sow outside Apr 8–Apr 22 Mar 10–Mar 24 Jan 27–Feb 10 –
Transplant outside Not available Not available Not available –
Fall planting Not available Not available Not available –
Expected harvest Jun 1–Jul 6 May 3–Jun 7 Mar 22–Apr 26 –

Zones 10-13 (hot, frost rare or absent) (Loxahatchee, FL): Frost is rare here (about 359 frost-free days a year); most years see little or no hard freeze. This is a hardy crop. In climates like this one, hardy and semi-hardy crops typically go in during the cooler months (fall through late winter), not on a frost-relative schedule.

Garden peas go into the ground two to four weeks before your last frost. Colorado State University Extension states that window directly for this hardy crop (Fact Sheet 7.212), and Purdue Extension's 40°F minimum soil temperature (HO-186-W) matches Colorado State's own figure exactly.

Days to maturity depend on the type: NC State Extension (AG-756-01) gives 54 to 72 days for vining peas and 54 to 60 for bush types, while Missouri Extension's 65 to 75 days runs a bit longer still. This page reports the full combined spread rather than collapsing vining and bush figures into one number.

Peas are direct-seeded, not transplanted, in every source held for this crop. Because peas are hardy, a cold-winter climate can seed them two to four weeks before frost into soil that is barely at 40°F; a mild-winter climate shifts the same rule earlier, and peas there often finish before the heat of early summer arrives, which is when pea production generally stops regardless of climate.

Garden peas are seed-only at the nursery. Look for both bush and vining (pole) varieties in the seed rack, since the two types carry different days-to-maturity figures and different trellising needs once planted.

Frost hardiness

Hardy. Tolerates hard frost. Can go in the ground before the last frost date.

Minimum soil temperature

40°F

For direct sowing/germination, where an Extension source stated it.

Days to maturity

54–75

Sourcing notes

From direct seed. CSU's explicit hardy rule ("2-4 weeks before last frost") used directly. CSU and PURDUE soil-temp minimums agree exactly at 40F. DTM: NCSU 54-72 (vining) / 54-60 (bush), MOEXT 65-75 - combined range.

Related crops

Growing zones for this crop

Nurseries near these locations

Sources