One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

A way of determining when to plant cantaloupes is to use the USDA zone info for Danville.

Planting Calendar for Cantaloupes

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

Cantaloupes do not do well in cold weather which means that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant cantaloupes in Danville 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. Any later than that and your cantaloupes may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your cantaloupes indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Danville. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Danville may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Danville you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your cantaloupes if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Danville

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 Danville

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