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.

It's a good idea to figure out when to plant pumpkins by referring to the USDA zone info for San Diego.

Planting Calendar for Pumpkins

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant pumpkins until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant pumpkins in San Diego 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. Any later than that and your pumpkins may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your pumpkins indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in San Diego. It might get as low as 35°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for San Diego and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in San Diego last frost occurs after January 31 so make sure that you are ready to cover your pumpkins if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for San Diego

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 San Diego

You may be interested in your other planting guides for San Diego.