One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

A common way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant pumpkins is to check out the USDA zone info for Lockhart.

Planting Calendar for Pumpkins

Frost tolerance for pumpkins:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Pumpkins are not cold tolerant which means that you have to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant pumpkins in Lockhart 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 pumpkins and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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 couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Lockhart. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lockhart is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Lockhart you get a frost after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your pumpkins if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lockhart

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Lockhart

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