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.

The USDA zone info for South Bay should be reffered to in order to estimate 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 the last frost.

It's not a good idea to plant melons 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 melons in South Bay is February. However, you really should wait until March 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your melons may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your melons indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In South Bay the average date of last frost happens on January 31. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for South Bay and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in South Bay there is a last frost after January 31 so just be sure to be ready to protect your melons if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for South Bay

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in South Bay

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Bay.