One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when it's possible to plant melons is to examine the USDA zone info for Newport.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

It's a bad idea to plant melons until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Newport 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 all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Newport. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Newport and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Newport you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your melons in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Newport

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 Newport

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