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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Cary it's possible to estimate when you can plant squash.

Planting Calendar for Squash

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

Squash do not do well in cold weather which means that you must wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant squash in Cary 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your squash may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your squash indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Cary. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Cary is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Cary you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your squash if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Cary

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 Cary

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