One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when to plant squash is to examine the USDA zone info for Thatcher.

Planting Calendar for Squash

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

Squash do not do well in cold weather which tells us that it is important to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant squash in Thatcher 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 squash and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your squash may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your squash indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Thatcher. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Thatcher is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Thatcher it frosts late in the year after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your squash if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Thatcher

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Thatcher

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