One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 Elk Grove can be used to figure out 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 has passed.

Since cantaloupes require warm weather you need to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant cantaloupes in Elk Grove 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 grow to maturity. 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

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Elk Grove. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Elk Grove may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Elk Grove last frost occurs after February 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your cantaloupes in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elk Grove

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 Elk Grove

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Elk Grove.