One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Athens it's a good idea 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 not a good idea to plant squash until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant squash in Athens 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your squash may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your squash indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Athens. You can expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Athens is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Athens last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your squash in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Athens

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 Athens

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