One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your 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.

A common way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant melons is to consult the USDA zone info for Highland Park.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

Melons do not do well in cold weather which means that you really should wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Highland Park 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. If you wait any later than that and your melons may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your melons indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Highland Park. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Highland Park is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Highland Park last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your melons if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Highland Park

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Highland Park

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Highland Park.