One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

It's a good idea to determine when it's a good idea to plant squash by checking out the USDA zone info for Jackson.

Planting Calendar for Squash

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

Squash require warm 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 Jackson 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. If you are starting your squash indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Jackson the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Jackson is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Jackson it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your squash in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Jackson

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Jackson

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