Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant squash is to use the USDA zone info for Merrillville.

Planting Calendar for Squash

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

It's not a good idea to plant squash until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant squash in Merrillville 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 really do well. If you are starting your squash indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Merrillville is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Merrillville you get a frost 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 Merrillville

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 Merrillville

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