One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

A common way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant melons is to refer to the USDA zone info for Harper Woods.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

Melons do not do well in cold weather which tells us that you have 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 Harper Woods 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your melons indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Harper Woods. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Harper Woods may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Harper Woods last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your melons if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Harper Woods

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 Harper Woods

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Harper Woods.