One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

One way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant cantaloupes is to look at the USDA zone info for Maitland.

Planting Calendar for Cantaloupes

Frost tolerance for cantaloupes:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Since cantaloupes require warm weather you must wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant cantaloupes in Maitland 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 cantaloupes and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your cantaloupes may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your cantaloupes indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Maitland. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Maitland and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Maitland it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to cover your cantaloupes if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Maitland

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 Maitland

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