When to Plant Cantaloupes in Sheffield, AL

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant cantaloupes in Sheffield can be estimated by checking out the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Cantaloupes

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

Cantaloupes are not cold tolerant which means that it is necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant cantaloupes
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant cantaloupes
Probably not a good time to plant cantaloupes

The earliest that you can plant cantaloupes in Sheffield 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 really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your cantaloupes indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Sheffield. You can expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Sheffield is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Sheffield you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your cantaloupes in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sheffield

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 Low5°F
Highest Expected Low10°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 Sheffield

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