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.

One way of determining when it's the best time to plant cantaloupes is to check out the USDA zone info for Loma Linda.

Planting Calendar for Cantaloupes

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

Cantaloupes require warm weather which tells us that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant cantaloupes in Loma Linda 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. 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 Loma Linda. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Loma Linda and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Loma Linda last frost occurs after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your cantaloupes in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Loma Linda

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 Loma Linda

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Loma Linda.