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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Greenbelt it's a good idea to estimate when it's the best time to plant melons.

Planting Calendar for Melons

Frost tolerance for melons:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Melons require warm weather which means that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Greenbelt 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 melons and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your melons may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your melons indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Greenbelt. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Greenbelt 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 Greenbelt it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your melons in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Greenbelt

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 Greenbelt

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