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.

The first opportunity to plant melons in Sierra Madre can be determined by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

It's not a good idea to plant melons until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Sierra Madre 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 melons and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your melons may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your melons indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Sierra Madre the average date of last frost happens on January 31. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Sierra Madre is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Sierra Madre there is a last frost after January 31 be ready to protect your melons in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sierra Madre

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 Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°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 Sierra Madre

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Sierra Madre.