When to Plant Peas: Sow Early, Finish Before 80°F Highs

Plant peas as soon as the ground can be worked, usually 4 to 6 weeks before your average last spring frost, and stop sowing about 60 days before daytime highs normally reach 80°F. That is March 17 to April 14 in Chicago, April 3 to April 26 in Minneapolis and January 19 to February 25 in Dallas. In the mild-winter South, peas are a winter crop.

Most guides give one rule and stop. We tested the common rules against NOAA normals for 39,017 lower-48 ZIP codes, set nine published local calendars beside them, and built dates for 22 cities.

Spring pea planting dates for 22 cities

The rules in print run from 2 weeks before the last frost (Colorado State Extension)⁷ to 4 to 5 weeks (Penn State Extension),⁶ 4 to 6 weeks (the Old Farmer’s Almanac)² and 6 to 8 weeks (Texas A&M AgriLife).¹² The University of Minnesota skips the count:

Plant the seed as soon as the soil has thawed and is workable.

Each window below opens on the later of two dates: six weeks before the median last frost, or the day the normal daily mean air temperature reaches 40°F. It closes 60 days before normal highs reach 80°F. Frost dates and temperatures are NOAA 1991–2020 normals for the station nearest each ZIP code.¹ The 40°F test uses air temperature as a stand-in, because our data has no soil readings and soil thaws later than air.

On the northern Plains the window is about three weeks (April 10 to May 1 in Fargo). On the Pacific coast it runs for months (Portland, January 14 to May 15), and Seattle’s normal highs never reach 80°F. In the South it moves into winter (Houston, December 22 to February 18).

Cold soil and frost: how early is too early

Across the lower 48, the date six weeks before the median last frost falls before the normal daily mean air temperature reaches 40°F in 46% of ZIP codes (9% at four weeks). Sources differ on the soil floor: the University of Maryland says germination is delayed below 40°F,⁹ Illinois Extension says peas may go in whenever the soil is at least 45°F,¹⁰ and Seed Savers says not to sow below 50°F.¹⁷

Cornell shows what cold soil costs. Seedlings emerge in 9 days at 60°F and 13 days at 50°F, but it can take 4 to 5 weeks at 40°F, and later plantings in warmer soil often catch up.⁵ An early sowing into 40°F ground buys little.

Frost is less of a worry. Clemson says peas withstand frosts and light freezes, though the blossoms cannot,¹³ and Penn State puts their limit at 28°F for a short time.⁶ Our frost-cover guide lists peas with the hardy crops, but once plants flower a late frost can do damage, the University of Minnesota warns.³ Peas also gain little from an indoor start, as our seed-starting guide explains.

The heat deadline

Heat ends the crop. The University of Minnesota says most varieties need about 60 days of growth before harvest and stop making flowers or pods once temperatures pass 85°F.³ Utah State sets the line lower and gives 60 to 70 days:⁸

Peas do poorly when temperatures exceed 80ºF.

Counting back 60 days from the date normal highs reach 80°F gives the closing dates in Table 1. Sowing on the median last-frost date is too late in 67% of ZIP codes, because 60 days later normal highs are already above 80°F. Sowing six weeks earlier fails that test in only 1.4%. Where highs reach 80°F at all (about 90% of ZIP codes), the median window is 29 days; 7% get under two weeks.

How published local calendars compare

Nine places have a published date or rule we could test. Penn State’s and Clemson’s Piedmont windows sit inside or close to ours. Texas A&M’s count opens two weeks earlier than the Almanac’s (December 8 for Houston), Colorado State’s starts two weeks after ours in Denver, and UF/IFAS’s North Florida window runs to March 31, 53 days past our February 6 heat deadline for Gainesville.

Winter peas in the South

Southern extension calendars follow the season, not one frost count:

• Louisiana: LSU AgCenter plants green, snow and sugar snap peas from mid-September to January.¹⁴
• Florida: UF/IFAS plants English peas September through February in Central and South Florida and January through March in North Florida.¹⁵
• Georgia: UGA lists English peas among the early plantings in February for middle Georgia, and says spring dates can run 2 to 3 weeks earlier in extreme south Georgia.¹⁶
• South Carolina: Clemson gives February 1 to March 15 on the coast and March 1 to April 5 in the Piedmont.¹³
• Texas: Texas A&M plants sugar snap peas as soon as the soil can be prepared¹¹ and edible-podded peas 6 to 8 weeks before the last killing frost.¹²

Fall peas: a squeeze between heat and freeze

Fall is the hard season, and sources disagree on timing. The Almanac says 6 to 8 weeks before the first fall frost.² UConn,⁴ Cornell⁵ and Texas A&M¹¹ say 8 to 10. Google’s AI Overview gave 6 to 8 weeks for “when to plant peas” and 6 to 10 for fall harvest when we checked on October 13, 2026.

A count back from frost ignores heat. Eight weeks before the median first frost falls while normal highs are still 80°F or higher in 67% of ZIP codes (36% at six weeks, 83% at ten). The University of Maryland says fall peas often perform poorly there because seed germinates poorly in warm soil, plants grow poorly in heat, and the first killing frost often comes before pods mature.⁹ Clemson lists fall dates yet says fall plantings are not recommended.¹³

Fall crops can be disappointing if hot weather persists.

We tested the squeeze. A fall window opens when normal highs drop below 80°F and closes 60 days before the median first 28°F freeze, a limit within Penn State’s 28°F tolerance.⁶ By that test 58% of ZIP codes have no window and 86% have less than two weeks. Illinois Extension notes that short fall days speed growth less than long spring days, so 60 days is optimistic.¹⁰ A 55-day variety, such as Sugar Bob in Texas A&M’s list,¹¹ still leaves 45% with no window.

Fall peas work best on the cool coasts: Portland has 63 days, Charleston 43, Boston 36 and New York 33. LSU’s mid-September to January window runs well past our test in Baton Rouge, so treat our dates as the safe core and local calendars as the permitted range. Our fall vegetable planting guide covers the count-back method for other crops.

Next steps

Look up your own dates with our frost date lookup, and read what a last frost date means. Peas share their early window with carrots, onions and potatoes. In winter, winter sowing starts them outdoors in containers. More crops are in our vegetable guides.