One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

A way of determining when to plant zucchini is to refer to the USDA zone info for Charleston.

Planting Calendar for Zucchini

Frost tolerance for zucchini:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Since zucchini are not cold tolerant you really should wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant zucchini in Charleston 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 zucchini and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your zucchini may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your zucchini indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Charleston. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Charleston is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Charleston there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your zucchini in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Charleston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°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 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Charleston

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