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.

The first chance to plant pumpkins in Lorain can be determined by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Pumpkins

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

Pumpkins are not cold tolerant which tells us that you must wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant pumpkins in Lorain 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 really do well. If you are starting your pumpkins indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Lorain. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lorain is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Lorain last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your pumpkins if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lorain

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 Lorain

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