When to Plant Pumpkins in Elizabethtown, PA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. 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 Elizabethtown should be estimated by using the USDA zone info.

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Planting Calendar for Pumpkins

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant pumpkins until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant pumpkins
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant pumpkins
Probably not a good time to plant pumpkins

The earliest that you can plant pumpkins in Elizabethtown 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 really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your pumpkins indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Elizabethtown the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Elizabethtown is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Elizabethtown last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your pumpkins in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Elizabethtown

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 Low0°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 Elizabethtown

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