Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when you can plant cantaloupes is to look at the USDA zone info for Mesa.

Planting Calendar for Cantaloupes

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

Since cantaloupes are not cold tolerant it's necessary to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant cantaloupes in Mesa is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant cantaloupes and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your cantaloupes may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your cantaloupes indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Mesa. You should expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Mesa may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Mesa it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to cover your cantaloupes in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mesa

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Mesa

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