Right now I would suggest planting Wando or some other(?) heat tolerant pea, although probably anything would be OK. All are about 60 days or longer putting harvest into September. I don't believe you will have any problem with germination, just keep them moist. Actually I am probably going to plant some this week myself. I love peas.
JMO,
Tom

Thanks tomakers...I have some Sugar Snap Peas. I imagine if I wait a week or two, i could use those?

prairiemoon2,

Most seeds prefer to germinate in warm conditions even if they are cool weather crops as you can see in this table:

Depending on what county you are in, you can use the extension information on planting dates from a state adjacent to you with a similar hardiness zone. Which county are you in?

If you are in the western third of the state, you can utilize Vermont and/or New Hampshire.

If you are in the middle third, you can utilize New Hampshire and/or Connecticut.

If you are in the eastern third you can utilize Connecticut and/or Rhode Island.

Usually you can check with your state's Extension Service. Each county should have it's own Cooperative Extension Office which provides free publications and information for the asking. They will have valuable vegetable/gardening tables available specifically for your area determined by universities and horticultural research scientists who have collected data from growing those crops in your state. Your tax dollars are already paying for this service so you may as well get some use out of it.

Vegetable Planting and Planning Calendar for Missouri (download the pdf) complete with spring and fall planting dates (underneath the spring planting dates for appropriate crops), how much to plant per person, etc. They can also tell you the average last frost date for your area and ideal planting times for specific crops and varieties in your area.

See how detailed this example is:

{{gwi:4005}}

Yes, but what that chart shows is that it's definitely too hot to expect peas to germinate. In zone 6, better wait a bit.

Where are you located oldroser?

violet, thanks very much for that information but the Extension Dept in Massachusetts...well, I just have a hard time finding what I want. I am in Eastern Mass. Can't I just use the number of days to harvest and back up from when I expect to harvest?

Thanks oldroser, too hot to germinate..but won't that be true for all of July and at least half of August?

I've gotta agree with oldroser, it's probably too early in zone 6 to get the Fall peas going. They can easily mature in something a might cooler than our September weather. I am going to wait a bit myself. But it is NOT too hot for them to germinate because a couple of pea seedlings have recently emerged in the bed where I pulled out my Spring pea plants. They may have been seeds that just didn't germinate back in March, or whatever. I had turned the soil to plant Fall broccoli etc., so I must have brought some lost pea seeds to the right planting level somehow, and they did sprout in this July heat. I think they speak for themselves.

For my zone 6 here, fall peas should be planted any day now... Cornell recommends planting fall peas 8-10 weeks before first fall frost. Mine has been around the first week in October. That's about 10 weeks. That would be now til July ends.

Just find your frost date and count back.

korney...thank you very much! I know what I am going to be doing this weekend. :-)

Planted the seeds two weekends ago and the seedlings are just poking their heads out. Thanks for your help. I will try to update later in the fall to let people know how it worked out to plant at this time.

Thanks.. :-)