The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of determining when it's possible to plant watermelon is to use the USDA zone info for Ashland.

Planting Calendar for Watermelon

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

Watermelon require warm weather which means that it is necessary to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant watermelon in Ashland 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. If you wait any later than that and your watermelon may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your watermelon indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Ashland. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ashland and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Ashland it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your watermelon if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ashland

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 Ashland

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