When to Plant Watermelon in Nanticoke, PA

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.

The USDA zone info for Nanticoke can be looked at to estimate when it's a good idea to plant watermelon.


Planting Calendar for Watermelon

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

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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant watermelon
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant watermelon
Probably not a good time to plant watermelon

The earliest that you can plant watermelon in Nanticoke 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your watermelon may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your watermelon indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Nanticoke the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Nanticoke is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Nanticoke you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your watermelon in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Nanticoke

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 Nanticoke

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