One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Selma should be used to determine when it's the best time to plant watermelon.

Planting Calendar for Watermelon

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

Since watermelon do not do well in cold weather you really should wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant watermelon in Selma 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 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. If you are starting your watermelon indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Selma. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Selma may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Selma it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to protect your watermelon in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Selma

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 Selma

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