When to plant pumpkins in Grand Rapids: 28 May – 9 July

In Grand Rapids, pumpkin: sow for seedlings from 26 March to 28 May; plant into a greenhouse from 7 May to 9 July; plant out into open ground from 28 May to 9 July.

Pumpkin in Grand Rapids: soil, season and weather

In Grand Rapids the soil, not frost, sets the date: the last frost is over around 28 April, but the top 7 cm of soil reaches 18 °C — the minimum on the pumpkin card — only around 28 May, 30 days later.

Last spring frost	28 April
Top 7 cm of soil at 18 °C	28 May, 30 days after the last frost
First autumn frost	3 November, 159 days after the start
Days in the bed to the first harvest (card)	75
First harvest, if planted in this window	11 August – 22 September
Days left for picking	84
Daylight	13:25 on 16 April, 15:02 on 28 May
Watering outdoors when fruiting (card)	every 5 days; the driest month, November, has 10 rainy days

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

Pumpkin in Grand Rapids: care after planting

Planted on 28 May: in the first weeks water every 4 days.

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

18 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 Rapids during the pumpkin season

About 625 mm of rain falls in the season; November is the driest month (64 mm) and October the wettest (109 mm).

Month	Day, °C	Night, °C	Rain, mm	Rainy days	Daylight on the 15th
May	20.8	9.4	100	12	14:38
June	26.5	15.4	104	11	15:20
July	28.2	17.9	81	11	15:04
August	27.3	17.1	98	10	13:58
September	23.9	14.2	69	9	12:33
October	16.3	8	109	13	11:06
November	8.2	1.3	64	10	9:45

ERA5 2016–2025, Open-Meteo

Pumpkin in nearby cities

Around Grand Rapids, Fort Wayne is 7 days earlier and Traverse City 8 days later.

City	Distance	Date	Difference
Lansing	95 km	28 May – 8 July	same day
Ann Arbor	174 km	29 May – 11 July	1 day later
Milwaukee	182 km	28 May – 7 July	same day
Chicago	201 km	28 May – 12 July	same day
Traverse City	201 km	5 June – 15 July	8 days later
Fort Wayne	214 km	21 May – 8 July	7 days earlier

Where to buy pumpkin plants and seeds near Grand Rapids

Buy plants ready to set out from 28 May to 9 July (from 7 May to 9 July for an unheated greenhouse); seed for raising your own is sown from 26 March to 28 May. Within 15 km of Grand Rapids OpenStreetMap lists 7 garden centres, 2 plant nurseries, 7 markets and 9 farm shops (collected 20 October 2026).

Knapp Valley Gardens — plant nursery
9 km
Terra Verde Landscaping — plant nursery
10 km
Fulton Street Farmers Market — market
2 km
Peters Gourmet Market — market
11 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