When to plant pumpkins in Grand Island: 18 May – 2 July

In Grand Island, pumpkin: sow for seedlings from 16 March to 21 May; plant into a greenhouse from 27 April to 2 July; plant out into open ground from 18 May to 2 July.

Pumpkin in Grand Island: soil, season and weather

In Grand Island the soil, not frost, sets the date: the last frost is over around 19 April, but the top 7 cm of soil reaches 18 °C — the minimum on the pumpkin card — only around 18 May, 29 days later.

Last spring frost	19 April
Top 7 cm of soil at 18 °C	18 May, 29 days after the last frost
First autumn frost	27 October, 162 days after the start
Days in the bed to the first harvest (card)	75
First harvest, if planted in this window	1 August – 15 September
Days left for picking	87
Daylight	12:53 on 6 April, 14:33 on 18 May
Watering outdoors when fruiting (card)	every 5 days; the driest month, September, has 6 rainy days

The same dates in Grand Island hold for Cucumber, Bell Pepper, Eggplant, Zucchini and Watermelon.

Pumpkin in Grand Island: care after planting

Planted on 18 May: in the first weeks water every 4 days.

Feeding, by the card’s schedule from that day:

8 June — feed: nitrogen

Pests and diseases of pumpkin to watch for:

Dates count from the first planting day of the window above; a later planting moves them by as many days.

Weather in Grand Island during the pumpkin season

About 462 mm of rain falls in the season; September is the driest month (57 mm) and May the wettest (127 mm).

Month	Day, °C	Night, °C	Rain, mm	Rainy days	Daylight on the 15th
May	22.7	11.3	127	13	14:27
June	29.8	18.3	86	8	15:06
July	30.5	20	72	8	14:51
August	29.5	18.9	59	8	13:50
September	26.9	15.8	57	6	12:31
October	18.6	7.4	61	6	11:10

ERA5 2016–2025, Open-Meteo

Pumpkin in nearby cities

Around Grand Island, Wichita is 16 days earlier and Sioux Falls 6 days later.

City	Distance	Date	Difference
Lincoln	143 km	11 May – 3 July	7 days earlier
Omaha	206 km	17 May – 1 July	1 day earlier
Topeka	309 km	6 May – 4 July	12 days earlier
Sioux Falls	321 km	24 May – 26 June	6 days later
Wichita	370 km	2 May – 5 July	16 days earlier
Dodge City	379 km	4 May – 4 July	14 days earlier

Where to buy pumpkin plants and seeds near Grand Island

Buy plants ready to set out from 18 May to 2 July (from 27 April to 2 July for an unheated greenhouse); seed for raising your own is sown from 16 March to 21 May. Within 15 km of Grand Island OpenStreetMap lists 2 garden centres (collected 28 October 2026).

Ace Hardware & Garden Center — garden centre
0 km
Walmart Garden Center — garden centre
4 km

Each window starts on the Greenly calendar date and ends on the last day that still leaves the crop’s days to harvest (from its card) before the average first autumn frost, plus six weeks of picking for crops harvested over weeks (tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, cucumbers, courgettes, pumpkins, watermelons, beans) — our rule; earlier in the window is safer.

Questions