Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Dubuque you can determine when it's possible to plant watermelon by using 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 not a good idea to plant watermelon until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant watermelon in Dubuque 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 watermelon and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your watermelon may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your watermelon indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Dubuque. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Dubuque is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Dubuque there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your watermelon if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Dubuque

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Dubuque

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