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.

One way of figuring out when it's possible to plant melons is to consult the USDA zone info for Hopatcong.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

You can not plant melons until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Hopatcong 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 fully mature. If you are starting your melons indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Hopatcong the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Hopatcong is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Hopatcong it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your melons in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Hopatcong

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°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 -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Hopatcong

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