When to Plant Watermelon in Punxsutawney, PA

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first chance to plant watermelon in Punxsutawney can be estimated by checking out the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Watermelon

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

Watermelon require warm weather which means that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

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 Punxsutawney 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 really do well. If you are starting your watermelon indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Punxsutawney and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Punxsutawney it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your watermelon in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Punxsutawney

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-15°F
Highest Expected Low-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Punxsutawney

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