One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

A common way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant cantaloupes is to look at the USDA zone info for Monticello.

Planting Calendar for Cantaloupes

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant cantaloupes until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant cantaloupes in Monticello 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 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 grow to maturity. Starting your cantaloupes indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Monticello the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Monticello is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Monticello last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to cover your cantaloupes in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Monticello

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Monticello

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