Sugar snap pea · Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
When to plant sugar snap peas in Pretoria
Main outdoor window
19 Jun - 10 Jul
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
24 July
In Pretoria, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
29 Nov - 28 Feb
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Pretoria
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Sow for autumn
21 Feb - 14 Mar
Counting back 89 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
19 Jun - 10 Jul
Five weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
29 Nov - 28 Feb
Sugar snap peas through the year
Against the frost risk in Pretoria
Why these dates
Sow five weeks before the last frost with support in place from the start. Heat ends the crop, so an early sowing matters more than a large one.
Hardy to about -6C as a plant. Peas germinate in soil at 7C, which is usually weeks before the last frost date.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Sugar snap peas are timed for direct sowing 5 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Pretoria.
The median frost-free season here is 322 days, against 60 to 75 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Pretoria
Other vegetables to time
Growing sugar snap peas in Pretoria
When should I plant sugar snap peas in Pretoria?
Aim for 19 Jun - 10 Jul in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 6-27 Jul - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will sugar snap peas be ready to harvest in Pretoria?
Expect to start picking around 29 Nov - 28 Feb, based on 60 to 75 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will sugar snap peas tolerate?
Hardy to about -6C as a plant. Peas germinate in soil at 7C, which is usually weeks before the last frost date.