One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of getting a good idea when to plant tagetes is to refer to the USDA zone info for Melrose.

Planting Calendar for Tagetes

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

Since tagetes are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant tagetes in Melrose 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 tagetes and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your tagetes may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your tagetes indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Melrose. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Melrose is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Melrose it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your tagetes in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Melrose

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 Melrose

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