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.

One way of determining when it's a good idea to plant melons is to look at the USDA zone info for Jasper.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

You should not plant melons until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Jasper 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your melons may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your melons indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Jasper. You should expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Jasper may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Jasper last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your melons in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Jasper

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Jasper

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