The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when it's possible to plant cantaloupes is to examine the USDA zone info for Phoenix.

Planting Calendar for Cantaloupes

Frost tolerance for cantaloupes:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Since cantaloupes do not do well in cold weather it's necessary to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant cantaloupes in Phoenix 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 cantaloupes and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cantaloupes may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your cantaloupes indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Phoenix. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Phoenix is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Phoenix it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to protect your cantaloupes if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Phoenix

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 Phoenix

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