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When to plant Zucchini

Computed from land-grant Extension planting-window rules (cited below), localized to real ZIP-level median frost dates, not a single national guess. These are national-generic rules by hardiness class; individual state Extension offices layer their own regional adjustment on top (earlier in the Deep South, later in the Upper Midwest). Enter your ZIP for your own dates, or read the four representative locations below.

Planting windows and crop timing here are computed from USDA/NOAA climate data and the university extension sources cited below, not a site visit or soil test. Treat this as a starting point: local conditions vary, and a local nursery or extension office can advise on your exact site. See our full Disclaimer.

Representative timing, by climate band

When to plant Zucchini in four US climates

Each column is the most nursery-dense location in our directory within that USDA zone band, computed from that location's own real median frost dates, not a made-up example.

Stage Zones 1-5 (cold winters)
Fort Plain, NY 		Zones 6-7 (temperate)
McMinnville, TN 		Zones 8-9 (warm)
Apopka, FL 		Zones 10-13 (hot, frost rare or absent)
Loxahatchee, FL
Start seed indoors Apr 15–Apr 22 Mar 17–Mar 24 Feb 3–Feb 10 –
Direct-sow outside May 13–May 27 Apr 14–Apr 28 Mar 3–Mar 17 –
Transplant outside May 13–May 27 Apr 14–Apr 28 Mar 3–Mar 17 –
Fall planting Not available Not available Not available –
Expected harvest Jun 12–Jul 16 May 14–Jun 17 Apr 2–May 6 –

Zones 10-13 (hot, frost rare or absent) (Loxahatchee, FL): Frost is rare here (about 359 frost-free days a year); most years see little or no hard freeze. This is a tender crop. In climates like this one, tender and very-tender crops typically go in before the hottest months arrive, not on a frost-relative schedule.

Zucchini goes outside one to three weeks after your last frost, whether direct-seeded or transplanted. NC State Extension and Missouri Extension both list zucchini under summer squash generally rather than as its own line item, carrying the same tender classification and delayed-transplant pattern this page uses for summer squash: Colorado State University Extension notes transplants should be delayed until frost potential is fully over (Fact Sheet 7.212).

Soil should read 60°F, per Colorado State and Purdue Extension (HO-186-W), which agree on that figure. Days to maturity run 30 to 50, from Colorado State and NC State. Missouri Extension's stated 80 to 90 days for this crop group is excluded from the range here, the same anomaly flagged for summer squash generally, and does not match zucchini's typically fast maturity.

In a cold-winter climate, Colorado State's own delay caveat matters more than the bare tender-tier rule suggests; a mild-winter climate reaches 60°F soil sooner and can seed or transplant correspondingly earlier under the same one-to-three-week rule.

Zucchini is sold both as seed for direct-sowing once soil is warm and as transplants in cell packs for a head start, with direct-seeding the more common route for this fast, prolific vine.

Frost hardiness

Tender. Damaged or killed by frost. Plant after the last frost date.

Minimum soil temperature

60°F

For direct sowing/germination, where an Extension source stated it.

Days to maturity

30–50

Sourcing notes

Zucchini is a summer-squash cultivar type; NCSU and MOEXT list it under "Squash, Summer" with the same dates/DTM caveats as summer squash generally (see summer_squash notes re: MOEXT's anomalous 80-90-day figure, excluded here too).

Related crops

Growing zones for this crop

Nurseries near these locations

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Sources