One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

The USDA zone info for Apache Junction should be reffered to in order to determine when it's a good idea to plant cantaloupes.

Planting Calendar for Cantaloupes

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

Cantaloupes are not cold tolerant which means that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant cantaloupes in Apache Junction 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. If you wait any later than that and your cantaloupes may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your cantaloupes indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Apache Junction the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Apache Junction is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Apache Junction last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your cantaloupes in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Apache Junction

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 Apache Junction

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Apache Junction.