One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

In Spirit Lake you can determine when it's possible to plant watermelon by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Watermelon

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

You really shouldn't plant watermelon until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant watermelon in Spirit Lake 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. 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 Spirit Lake. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Spirit Lake may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Spirit Lake you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your watermelon if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Spirit Lake

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 Spirit Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Spirit Lake.