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.

The USDA zone info for De Soto can be read to determine when you can plant cantaloupes.

Planting Calendar for Cantaloupes

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

Cantaloupes are not cold tolerant which tells us 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 cantaloupes in De Soto 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. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your cantaloupes indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in De Soto. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for De Soto is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in De Soto you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your cantaloupes if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for De Soto

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in De Soto

You may be interested in your other planting guides for De Soto.