One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Fort Meade you can determine when to plant watermelon by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Watermelon

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant watermelon until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant watermelon in Fort Meade 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 couple of weeks earlier by starting your watermelon indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Fort Meade may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Fort Meade last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to cover your watermelon in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Meade

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 Fort Meade

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fort Meade.