Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of determining when to plant pumpkins is to use the USDA zone info for San Francisco.

Planting Calendar for Pumpkins

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

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 Francisco 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. Starting your pumpkins indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on January 31 in San Francisco. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 35°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for San Francisco is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in San Francisco last frost occurs after January 31 be ready to protect your pumpkins in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for San Francisco

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 Francisco

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