One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 Bloomingdale you can determine when it's possible to plant squash by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Squash

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

You can not plant squash until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant squash in Bloomingdale 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 squash and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait 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

In Bloomingdale the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Bloomingdale and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Bloomingdale you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your squash in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bloomingdale

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 Bloomingdale

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