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

A common way of figuring out when you can plant pumpkins is to look at the USDA zone info for Elmwood Park.

Planting Calendar for Pumpkins

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

You can not plant pumpkins until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant pumpkins in Elmwood Park 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your pumpkins may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your pumpkins 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 Elmwood Park. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Elmwood Park is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Elmwood Park you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your pumpkins in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elmwood Park

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Elmwood Park

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