One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant pumpkins is to use the USDA zone info for Huntsville.

Planting Calendar for Pumpkins

Frost tolerance for pumpkins:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably a bad idea to plant pumpkins until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant pumpkins in Huntsville is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant pumpkins and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your pumpkins may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your pumpkins indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Huntsville the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Huntsville and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Huntsville last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your pumpkins in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Huntsville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Huntsville

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Huntsville.