One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

It's a good idea to determine when to plant watermelon by checking out the USDA zone info for Medford.

Planting Calendar for Watermelon

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

Since watermelon are not cold tolerant it is important to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant watermelon in Medford 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 couple of weeks earlier by starting your watermelon indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Medford. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Medford is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Medford it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to protect your watermelon if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Medford

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 Medford

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