One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when you can plant squash is to refer to the USDA zone info for Zone 2b.

Planting Calendar for Squash

Frost tolerance for squash:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Squash do not do well in cold weather which means that it's important to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant squash in Zone 2b 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 squash and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your squash may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your squash indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Zone 2b. It might get as low as -45°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Zone 2b is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Zone 2b it frosts late in the year after May 15 be ready to protect your squash if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 2b

Here is the info for USDA Zone 2b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	August 15
Lowest Expected Low	-45°F
Highest Expected Low	-40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -45°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -40°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 2b

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 2b.