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.

The best time to plant squash in Peoria can be figured out 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.

It's probably a bad idea to plant squash until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant squash in Peoria 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. Starting your squash indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Peoria. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Peoria is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Peoria it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your squash if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Peoria

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 Peoria

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