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

The USDA zone info for Philadelphia can be used to determine when to plant squash.

Planting Calendar for Squash

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant squash until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant squash in Philadelphia 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. Any later than that and your squash may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your squash indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Philadelphia and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Philadelphia it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your squash in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Philadelphia

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 Philadelphia

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