The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant melons is to examine the USDA zone info for Hope.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

It's a bad idea to plant melons until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Hope 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. If you wait any later than that and your melons may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your melons indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Hope. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Hope is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Hope last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to cover your melons if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Hope

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 Hope

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