The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Oakland should be looked at to determine when it's the best time to plant pumpkins.

Planting Calendar for Pumpkins

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

Since pumpkins require warm weather you have to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant pumpkins in Oakland 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your pumpkins indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Oakland. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Oakland and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Oakland you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your pumpkins if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Oakland

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Oakland

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