When to Plant Peas: Spring and Fall Dates by Frost and Zone

Across the North, Midwest and Mountain West, sow peas straight into the garden from 4 weeks before your median last spring frost up to the frost date itself. Start on the first day the soil is workable and reads at least 40°F (4°C) 4 inches (10 cm) down at 8 a.m. Frost is not the danger. Heat is: vines stop flowering once days pass about 85°F (29°C), so the earlier the crop starts, the more pods it sets before hot weather shuts it down.

Texas runs earlier, from 8 weeks to 2 weeks before the last frost, and western Washington and Oregon sow from late winter into spring. A second, smaller crop is possible from a late-summer sowing in Zones 8 and colder. In California's interior valleys, central and south Florida and the low desert, the calendar flips and peas grow from fall through winter.

Pea planting dates by city

In Zones 4 to 8a, each spring window opens 28 days before the city's median last frost and closes on that date; Texas cities sow earlier and stop sooner, and Seattle and Sacramento follow their regions' own calendars. The fall window runs from 12 to 9 weeks before the median first frost.

Frost dates are medians from NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals for each city's main weather station, and the USDA zone (2023 map) is for that station. In half of years the last frost falls later than shown.

For any other town in Zones 8a and colder, look up your median last spring frost, count back 4 weeks to open the spring window, and stop sowing on the frost date. In Texas, count back 8 weeks to open it and stop 2 weeks before the frost date. For a fall crop, count back 12 weeks and then 9 weeks from your median first fall frost.

Treat each opening date as the earliest possible day, not an appointment. In Fargo and Minneapolis the window can open before the ground has thawed; there, wait for workable soil. Seattle, Sacramento and Houston depart from the frost-date pattern for reasons covered under fall and winter peas.

How to tell the soil is ready

The soil is ready when it crumbles in your hand instead of smearing and a soil thermometer pushed 4 inches (10 cm) deep reads 40°F (4°C) or more at 8 a.m. Waiting for 45°F (7°C) is the safer target.

Take the reading first thing in the morning, before sun on the surface flatters the number, and check over several days. Pea seed sprouts slowly near the 40°F mark and speeds up as the soil warms toward 70°F (21°C), its optimum. Expect 6 to 15 days from sowing to germination, and about 7 to 10 days to emergence once the soil holds 55–65°F (13–18°C).

Ignore the thermometer if the bed is still saturated from snowmelt. Working wet soil damages its structure, and seed that sits in cold, waterlogged ground tends to rot before it comes up. Ground that stays waterlogged every spring is a good candidate for a raised bed, where you control the drainage from the start.

Sowing windows by region

The frost-date rule fits the North, Midwest and Mountain West; Texas sows earlier and stops sooner, and the Pacific coast runs on its own calendar.

Windows are for direct sowing; within each one, soil temperature and moisture pick the day.

North and Upper Midwest (Zones 3–5). Sow the moment the soil thaws and can be worked. Late cold snaps do no harm to emerged seedlings, and cool spring weather is when the vines grow best.

Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Mountain West (Zones 6–7). Missouri's rows show how quickly the window moves north: the south of the state is nearly finished sowing by the time the north begins. In Maryland and similar mid-Atlantic climates, fall peas often perform poorly, so the spring sowing carries the season.

Southeast and Texas (Zones 7–9). In South Carolina, spring sowing starts in February on the coast and ends by early April in the Piedmont, and the fall window opens in mid-August. In Texas, sow 2 to 8 weeks before the average last frost in spring and 2 to 12 weeks before the first freeze in fall. Around Houston the best weeks are late January to early February and late September to mid-October; a week or two either side is marginal.

Pacific Northwest. In Washington, sow from the end of February to mid-March and pick from mid-June through July. Western Oregon's long, cool spring keeps the window open into May, but any April or May sowing there needs a variety resistant to pea enation mosaic virus. Sugar Snap is susceptible, so in western Oregon it goes in early.

Fall and winter peas

Fall peas work in Zones 8 and colder when sown 9 to 12 weeks before the median first fall frost, but they yield much less than a spring crop.

The problem is the order of the weather. A fall crop starts in the hottest stretch of the year, when pea seed germinates poorly in warm soil. It then has to flower and fill pods as days shorten and cool, which slows development. In Maryland, the first killing frost often arrives before the pods mature. Sow a fast variety such as Sugar Ann or a mildew-resistant one such as Oregon Giant, put slower varieties in at the start of the window, and keep the seedbed watered until shoots appear.

Seed sown in late-summer heat needs shade to establish. Cover young seedlings with 50% shade cloth or two layers of floating row cover until they have about 6 leaves.

You can follow a spring pea crop with a fall crop in the same bed. After a June harvest, turn the spent vines into the soil and wait at least 2 weeks before sowing a fall crop of something other than legumes in that bed; sow fall peas in a bed that has not grown peas or other legumes for 3 years.

Zone 9 and frost-free gardens

In the mildest climates, peas are a cool-season crop grown through fall and winter rather than spring. In California's interior valleys, including Sacramento, peas go in from September through January. In the low desert, a September sowing takes 60 to 120 days to harvest and a November sowing 120 to 150, so the early end of the fall window pays off. In central and south Florida, sow from November through February, and finish the crop before spring heat arrives, because warm spells cut production.

Houston has two short seasons: late January to early February in spring, and late September to mid-October in fall.

Seattle is the exception among the Zone 9 cities. In the maritime Northwest, spring is the main pea season, running from late February into April, and the crop is picked in early summer.

How to sow peas

Sow seed directly where the vines will grow. Peas transplant badly, and because the seed germinates in cold soil and seedlings tolerate frost, indoor starts are unnecessary.

1. Put up support first. Install netting, a fence or a string trellis before sowing any variety that grows taller than 3 feet (90 cm), so tendrils find it as soon as they reach out. Dwarf varieties can go without.
2. Inoculate the seed. On new ground, coat the seed with a pea inoculant so the roots form nitrogen-fixing nodules. In beds that have grown peas before, this step matters less.
3. Open a shallow furrow. Make it about 1 inch (2.5 cm) deep along the base of the support, working within a range of 1/2 to 2 inches (1.3–5 cm). Texas plantings go deeper, at 2 to 3 inches (5–7.5 cm).
4. Space the seed. Drop seeds 1 to 2 inches (2.5–5 cm) apart in rows 18 to 36 inches (45–90 cm) apart, or 12 to 18 inches (30–45 cm) for dwarf types. Do not thin the seedlings.
5. Cover and keep moist. Backfill the furrow and keep the seedbed moist until shoots appear, which takes 6 to 15 days depending on soil temperature.

Peas prefer a soil pH of 6.5 to 6.8. Root bacteria supply part of their nitrogen, not all of it, so on poor or new ground work fertilizer into the bed before sowing. Feed at about half the rate you use for other vegetables, guided by a soil test: too much nitrogen limits pod production.

Snap, snow and shelling peas: varieties that change the timing

Variety decides how many days you need between sowing and the heat, and whether you need a trellis at all.

Days are counted from direct seeding to first harvest.

Shelling, or English, garden peas are grown for the seeds inside the pod; snap peas carry thick pods eaten whole; snow peas have flat, edible pods. Among shelling peas, varieties with wrinkled seed taste sweeter than smooth-seeded ones. Other recommended garden varieties include the shelling pea Little Marvel and the snow pea Oregon Sugar Pod II.

Fast, compact varieties suit short windows: northern springs that heat up abruptly, and fall sowings racing the first frost. Sugar Ann fits both. Sugar Snap is the reverse case. It needs a 6-foot (1.8 m) trellis and 58 days to first pods, and it carries no listed disease resistance, so it belongs at the very start of the spring window, before heat and mildew arrive. For fall, disease resistance counts as much as speed, which makes Oregon Giant a sound pick.

What happens if you sow too early or too late

Sowing too early risks rotted seed; sowing too late risks vines that stop flowering before they have produced much.

Too early. Seed lying in cold, saturated soil rots instead of sprouting, which leaves gaps in the row. Wait for soil that crumbles, sow in well-drained beds, and rotate peas away from any bed that grew peas or other legumes in the past 3 years. Seed sold as treated holds up better in cold, wet ground. Frost itself is not a reason to wait: seedlings grow at any temperature above 40°F (4°C) and established plants come through heavy frosts.

Too late. Peas grow best between about 55°F and 65°F (13–18°C). Above 80°F (27°C) they struggle, and near 85°F (29°C) they stop flowering and setting pods. Warm weather also shortens the picking season, and hot, dry spells bring powdery mildew. If you miss the spring window, move to the fall or winter window for your area rather than sowing into early summer.

To stretch the harvest instead, make a second and third sowing a week apart early in the window, or sow early and later varieties on the same day. For the rest of the spring garden, see planting dates for other vegetables, or set reminders for each sowing in Sow's garden calendar.

If frost comes after flowering

Cover the plants overnight once they are in bloom or carrying young pods, because frost that seedlings shrug off damages flowers and developing pods. Floating row cover or an old sheet over the row is enough; take it off once the morning warms. Row cover also shields very early sowings through cold spells.