Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Mechanicsburg should be reffered to in order to determine when it's the best time to plant squash.

Planting Calendar for Squash

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

Since squash are not cold tolerant you really should wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant squash in Mechanicsburg 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. If you wait any later than that and your squash may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your squash indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Mechanicsburg. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Mechanicsburg is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Mechanicsburg last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your squash if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mechanicsburg

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Mechanicsburg

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