One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the 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.

A way of determining when it's a good idea to plant watermelon is to examine the USDA zone info for Garden City.

Planting Calendar for Watermelon

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

Watermelon do not do well in cold weather which means that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant watermelon in Garden City 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your watermelon indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Garden City. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Garden City is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Garden City you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your watermelon in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Garden City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Garden City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Garden City.