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.

In Hitchcock you can determine when it's possible to plant pumpkins 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 has passed.

It's probably a bad idea to plant pumpkins until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant pumpkins in Hitchcock is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant pumpkins and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your pumpkins may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your pumpkins indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on February 15 in Hitchcock. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Hitchcock and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Hitchcock it frosts late in the year after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your pumpkins in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hitchcock

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Hitchcock

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