One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

The best time to plant pumpkins in Manchester should be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Pumpkins

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

Since pumpkins require warm weather it's important to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant pumpkins in Manchester 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. If you wait any later than that and your pumpkins may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your pumpkins indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Manchester. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Manchester is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Manchester you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your pumpkins in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Manchester

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 Manchester

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