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.

The first opportunity to plant melons in Slidell should be determined by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

Melons do not do well in cold weather which means that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Slidell 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 the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Slidell. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Slidell may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Slidell it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to cover your melons if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Slidell

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 Slidell

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