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.

You will be able to determine when you can plant melons by using the USDA zone info for Forest Lake.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

Since melons are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Forest Lake is May. However, you really should wait until June 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 few weeks earlier by starting your melons indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on May 15 in Forest Lake. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Forest Lake is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Forest Lake last frost occurs after May 15 so always be ready to protect your melons if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Forest Lake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Forest Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Forest Lake.