One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your 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 Rutland can be looked at to determine when it's the best time to plant pumpkins.

Planting Calendar for Pumpkins

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

Since pumpkins require warm weather you really should wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Rutland. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Rutland may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Rutland last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your pumpkins in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rutland

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°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 -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Rutland

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