Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In De Soto you can determine when it's a good idea to plant melampodium by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

Frost tolerance for melampodium:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Since melampodium require warm weather it is necessary to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

Last Frost Date

In De Soto the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for De Soto is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in De Soto it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to cover your melampodium in the event of 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.