One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the 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 common way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant melons is to refer to the USDA zone info for Donaldsonville.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

Melons require warm weather which tells us that you have to 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 melons in Donaldsonville is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant melons and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your melons may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your melons indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Donaldsonville. You should expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Donaldsonville is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Donaldsonville it frosts late in the year after February 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your melons in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Donaldsonville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Donaldsonville

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