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

One way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant melons is to examine the USDA zone info for Yuma.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

It's not a good idea to plant melons until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

The last month that you can plant melons and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your melons may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your melons indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Yuma the average date of last frost happens on January 31. You should expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Yuma is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Yuma last frost occurs after January 31 be ready to cover your melons if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Yuma

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Yuma

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