One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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 common way of getting a good idea when it's possible to plant melons is to examine the USDA zone info for Dearborn.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

Since melons do not do well in cold weather it's necessary to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Dearborn 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. Any later than that and your melons may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your melons indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Dearborn. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Dearborn is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Dearborn last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your melons in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Dearborn

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 Dearborn

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