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.

A common way of determining when you can plant melampodium is to use the USDA zone info for Fairmont.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

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

Since melampodium do not do well in cold weather you have to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Fairmont 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 melampodium and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your melampodium may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your melampodium indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Fairmont the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Fairmont is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Fairmont it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your melampodium if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fairmont

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°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 -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Fairmont

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