When to Plant Watermelon in Fairfield, IA

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.

The best time to plant watermelon in Fairfield can be estimated by referring to the USDA zone info.

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Planting Calendar for Watermelon

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

It's a bad idea to plant watermelon until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant watermelon
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant watermelon
Probably not a good time to plant watermelon

The earliest that you can plant watermelon in Fairfield 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your watermelon may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your watermelon indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Fairfield. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Fairfield is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Fairfield you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your watermelon if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fairfield

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-15°F
Highest Expected Low-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Fairfield

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