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 Spring Lake can be reffered to in order to determine when you can plant melons.

Planting Calendar for Melons

Frost tolerance for melons:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Melons require warm weather which tells us that it is necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Spring Lake 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 melons and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your melons may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your melons indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Spring Lake. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Spring Lake and it is different every year. Half of the time in Spring Lake there is a last frost after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your melons in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Spring Lake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Spring Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Spring Lake.