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 should be able to estimate when it's possible to plant cantaloupes by using the USDA zone info for Dickinson.

Planting Calendar for Cantaloupes

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

You really shouldn't plant cantaloupes until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant cantaloupes in Dickinson 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 really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your cantaloupes indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Dickinson. You should expect an average low temperature of -30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Dickinson is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Dickinson you get a frost after May 15 be ready to protect your cantaloupes in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Dickinson

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Dickinson

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