Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when to plant watermelon is to examine the USDA zone info for Gladstone.

Planting Calendar for Watermelon

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

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

The earliest that you can plant watermelon in Gladstone 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 grow to maturity. Starting your watermelon indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Gladstone. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Gladstone is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Gladstone you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your watermelon if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Gladstone

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 Gladstone

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