One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 Dallas you can determine when it's possible to plant melons by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

You can not plant melons until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Dallas 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 couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Dallas the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Dallas may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Dallas you get a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your melons in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Dallas

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Dallas

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