Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant pumpkins in Hope can be figured out by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Pumpkins

Frost tolerance for pumpkins:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's probably a bad idea to plant pumpkins until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant pumpkins in Hope 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your pumpkins may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your pumpkins indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Hope. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Hope is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Hope last frost occurs after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your pumpkins if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hope

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Hope

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