The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when to plant pumpkins is to consult the USDA zone info for Jackson.

Planting Calendar for Pumpkins

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

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

The earliest that you can plant pumpkins in Jackson is May. However, you really should wait until June 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 the last frost has passed is on May 15 in Jackson. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Jackson may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Jackson you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your pumpkins if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Jackson

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

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

Plants to Grow in Jackson

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