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.

One way of determining when to plant watermelon is to look at the USDA zone info for Northfield.

Planting Calendar for Watermelon

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant watermelon until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant watermelon in Northfield 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. Any later than that and your watermelon may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your watermelon indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Northfield. You can expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Northfield is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Northfield there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your watermelon in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Northfield

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 Northfield

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