One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

The first opportunity to plant pumpkins in Modesto can be estimated by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Pumpkins

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

It's not a good idea to plant pumpkins until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant pumpkins in Modesto is March. However, you really should wait until April 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. If you wait any later than that and your pumpkins may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your pumpkins indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Modesto. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Modesto and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Modesto it frosts late in the year after February 15 so always be ready to protect your pumpkins if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Modesto

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Modesto

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