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 way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant melons is to look at the USDA zone info for Lumberton.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

Since melons are not cold tolerant it's important to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Lumberton 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 really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your melons indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Lumberton. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Lumberton may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Lumberton you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your melons in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lumberton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Lumberton

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