One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

By using the USDA zone info for Artesia you should be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant pumpkins.

Planting Calendar for Pumpkins

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

Pumpkins are not cold tolerant which means that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

The last month that you can plant pumpkins and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your pumpkins may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your pumpkins indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Artesia the average date of last frost happens on January 31. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 35°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Artesia is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Artesia you get surprised by a frost after January 31 be ready to protect your pumpkins if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Artesia

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in Artesia

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