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

It's a good idea to determine when to plant zucchini by using the USDA zone info for Columbia.

Planting Calendar for Zucchini

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

You can not plant zucchini until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant zucchini in Columbia 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 zucchini and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your zucchini may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your zucchini indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Columbia. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Columbia is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Columbia it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your zucchini if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Columbia

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 Columbia

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