One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your 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.

A common way of estimating when it's the best time to plant watermelon is to refer to the USDA zone info for Cape Canaveral.

Planting Calendar for Watermelon

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

Since watermelon are not cold tolerant it's necessary to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant watermelon in Cape Canaveral 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 watermelon and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your watermelon may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your watermelon indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Cape Canaveral is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Cape Canaveral there is a last frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your watermelon in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Cape Canaveral

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 Cape Canaveral

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Cape Canaveral.