One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

One way of estimating when it's possible to plant pumpkins is to look at the USDA zone info for Lockport.

Planting Calendar for Pumpkins

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

Pumpkins require warm weather which means that it is necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant pumpkins in Lockport 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. Any later than that and 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

In Lockport 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.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Lockport is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Lockport you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your pumpkins in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lockport

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 Lockport

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