One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

You should be able to determine when it's the best time to plant melons by referring to the USDA zone info for Genoa.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

Melons require warm weather which tells us that it's important to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Genoa 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your melons may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your melons indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Genoa. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Genoa and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Genoa it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your melons in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Genoa

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 Genoa

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