Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Palo Alto it's possible to determine when it's a good idea to plant melons.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant melons until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Palo Alto 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 melons and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your melons may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your melons indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Palo Alto. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Palo Alto is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Palo Alto you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your melons in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Palo Alto

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 Palo Alto

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Palo Alto.