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 way of figuring out when you can plant cantaloupes is to examine the USDA zone info for Waseca.

Planting Calendar for Cantaloupes

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant cantaloupes until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant cantaloupes in Waseca 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 cantaloupes and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your cantaloupes may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your cantaloupes indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on May 15 in Waseca. You can expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Waseca is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Waseca there is a last frost after May 15 be ready to cover your cantaloupes in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Waseca

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 Waseca

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