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

The USDA zone info for Ripon can be reviewed to estimate when it's the best time 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.

Since pumpkins do not do well in cold weather you must wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant pumpkins in Ripon 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 fully mature. Starting your pumpkins indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Ripon. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ripon may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Ripon there is a last frost after February 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your pumpkins in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ripon

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 Ripon

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