One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

In Ripon you can estimate when you can plant squash by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Squash

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

It's a bad idea to plant squash until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant squash 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 squash and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your squash may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your squash indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Ripon. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ripon is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Ripon last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to cover your squash in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.