When to Plant Cantaloupes in San Rafael, CA

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to figure out when you can plant cantaloupes by checking out the USDA zone info for San Rafael.


Planting Calendar for Cantaloupes

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

You should not plant cantaloupes until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant cantaloupes in San Rafael is February. However, you really should wait until March 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. 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 January 31 in San Rafael. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for San Rafael may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in San Rafael it frosts late in the year after January 31 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your cantaloupes in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for San Rafael

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low30°F
Highest Expected Low35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in San Rafael

You may be interested in your other planting guides for San Rafael.