When to Plant Watermelon in Palmdale, CA

One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

In Palmdale you can estimate when it's possible to plant watermelon by reviewing the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Watermelon

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

Since watermelon require warm weather you need to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant watermelon
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant watermelon
Probably not a good time to plant watermelon

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

The last month that you can plant watermelon and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your watermelon may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your watermelon indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Palmdale the average date of last frost happens on March 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Palmdale 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 Palmdale last frost occurs after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your watermelon if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Palmdale

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)November 15
Lowest Expected Low15°F
Highest Expected Low20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Palmdale

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