One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

You should be able to figure out when it's the best time to plant zucchini by looking at the USDA zone info for Zone 5a.

Planting Calendar for Zucchini

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

You can not plant zucchini until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant zucchini in Zone 5a 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. If you wait any later than that and your zucchini may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your zucchini indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Zone 5a. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Zone 5a and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Zone 5a you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your zucchini if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 5a

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 Zone 5a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 5a.