When to Plant Pumpkins in Fairfield, IA

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of determining when it's possible to plant pumpkins is to use the USDA zone info for Fairfield.


Planting Calendar for Pumpkins

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

Since pumpkins are not cold tolerant you need to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant pumpkins in Fairfield 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 pumpkins and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your pumpkins may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your pumpkins indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Fairfield. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Fairfield may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Fairfield you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your pumpkins in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fairfield

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-15°F
Highest Expected Low-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Fairfield

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