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.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Visalia it's a good idea 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 all chance of frost has passed.

Since melons are not cold tolerant it's necessary to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Visalia 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 fully mature. If you are starting your melons indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Visalia. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Visalia may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Visalia you get a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your melons if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Visalia

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 Visalia

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