Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You should be able to determine when it's possible to plant melons by using the USDA zone info for Sonoma.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

It's not a good idea to plant melons until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Sonoma 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. If you wait any later than that and your melons may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your melons indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Sonoma. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Sonoma is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Sonoma you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your melons if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sonoma

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 Sonoma

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