The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of estimating when it's the best time to plant melons is to look at the USDA zone info for Valdosta.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant melons until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Valdosta 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 melons and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your melons may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your melons indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Valdosta. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Valdosta is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Valdosta it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to cover your melons if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Valdosta

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 Valdosta

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