One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

You can figure out when it's the best time to plant watermelon in Franklin by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Watermelon

Frost tolerance for watermelon:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Watermelon are not cold tolerant 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 Franklin 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. Starting your watermelon indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Franklin the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Franklin is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Franklin you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your watermelon in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Franklin

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Franklin

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