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 USDA zone info for Walnut Ridge should be used to estimate when to plant melons.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

Melons do not do well in cold weather which means that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Walnut Ridge 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. 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 when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Walnut Ridge. You should expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Walnut Ridge is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Walnut Ridge you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your melons in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Walnut Ridge

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 Walnut Ridge

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Walnut Ridge.