Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate 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 Dayton can be reffered to in order to figure out 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 all chance of frost has passed.

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

The earliest that you can plant squash in Dayton 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 fully mature. Starting your squash indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Dayton. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Dayton and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Dayton there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your squash if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Dayton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Dayton

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