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

You can determine when it's possible to plant squash in Wilmington by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Squash

Frost tolerance for squash:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

You really shouldn't plant squash until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant squash in Wilmington 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 fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your squash indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Wilmington. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

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

USDA Zone Info for Wilmington

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 Wilmington

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