When to Plant Squash in Park Forest, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

It's a good idea to figure out when to plant squash by looking at the USDA zone info for Park Forest.


Planting Calendar for Squash

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

You should not plant squash until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant squash in Park Forest 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 grow to maturity. Starting your squash indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Park Forest. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Park Forest may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Park Forest it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your squash in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Park Forest

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 Park Forest

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Park Forest.