One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your 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 getting a good idea when it's a good idea to plant watermelon is to examine the USDA zone info for Spring Valley.

Planting Calendar for Watermelon

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

Since watermelon do not do well in cold weather you really should wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant watermelon in Spring Valley 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. 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 Spring Valley. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Spring Valley may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Spring Valley you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your watermelon in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Spring Valley

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 Spring Valley

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Spring Valley.