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 Erie can be estimated by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Pumpkins

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant pumpkins until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant pumpkins in Erie 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. 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

In Erie the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Erie is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Erie last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your pumpkins in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Erie

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 Erie

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