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.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for Lathrop it's a good idea to figure out when you can plant watermelon.

Planting Calendar for Watermelon

Frost tolerance for watermelon:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably not a good idea to plant watermelon until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant watermelon in Lathrop 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 watermelon and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your watermelon may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your watermelon indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Lathrop. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Lathrop is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Lathrop you get a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your watermelon in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Lathrop

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 Lathrop

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