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

It's possible to determine when it's a good idea to plant watermelon by looking at the USDA zone info for Alachua.

Planting Calendar for Watermelon

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

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

The earliest that you can plant watermelon in Alachua is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant watermelon and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your watermelon may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your watermelon indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Alachua and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Alachua you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your watermelon if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Alachua

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Alachua

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