One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

In Vermilion you can determine when it's a good idea to plant watermelon by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Watermelon

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

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

The earliest that you can plant watermelon in Vermilion 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 little bit earlier by starting your watermelon indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Vermilion. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Vermilion and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Vermilion you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your watermelon if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Vermilion

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 Vermilion

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