One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

The USDA zone info for Butler can be read to determine when it's the best time to plant melons.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

Since melons require warm weather it is necessary to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Butler 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. Any later than that and your melons may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your melons 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 April 15 in Butler. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Butler may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Butler you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your melons in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Butler

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Butler

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