When to Plant Cucumbers in Washington, DC

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first chance to plant cucumbers in Washington can be figured out by checking out the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Cucumbers

Frost tolerance for cucumbers: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably not a good idea to plant cucumbers until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant cucumbers
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant cucumbers
Probably not a good time to plant cucumbers

The earliest that you can plant cucumbers in Washington is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant cucumbers and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cucumbers may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your cucumbers indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Washington. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Washington is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Washington last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your cucumbers if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Washington

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low0°F
Highest Expected Low5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Washington

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