One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 Salem you can estimate when it's possible to plant watermelon by using the USDA zone info.

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 really should wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant watermelon in Salem 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 really do well. If you are starting your watermelon indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Salem. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Salem is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Salem last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your watermelon if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Salem

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Salem

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