One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

In Mankato you can estimate when it's the best time to plant watermelon by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Watermelon

Frost tolerance for watermelon:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's a bad idea to plant watermelon until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant watermelon in Mankato 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 watermelon and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your watermelon may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your watermelon indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Mankato the average date of last frost happens on May 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Mankato may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Mankato it frosts late in the year after May 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your watermelon if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mankato

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 Mankato

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