When to Plant Cantaloupes in Palos Heights, IL

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 can figure out when it's possible to plant cantaloupes in Palos Heights by reviewing the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Cantaloupes

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

Cantaloupes require warm weather which tells us that it is important to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant cantaloupes in Palos Heights 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 cantaloupes and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cantaloupes may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your cantaloupes indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Palos Heights is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Palos Heights last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your cantaloupes if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Palos Heights

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 Palos Heights

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Palos Heights.