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

The USDA zone info for Martinez can be used to estimate when to plant watermelon.

Planting Calendar for Watermelon

Frost tolerance for watermelon:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Since watermelon are not cold tolerant it's important to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant watermelon in Martinez is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant watermelon and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your watermelon may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your watermelon indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Martinez. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Martinez is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Martinez it frosts late in the year after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your watermelon if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Martinez

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Martinez

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Martinez.