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.

You can figure out when you can plant melons in Scranton by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Melons

Frost tolerance for melons:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably not a good idea to plant melons until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Scranton 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. Any later than that and your melons may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your melons indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Scranton the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Scranton is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Scranton you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your melons if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Scranton

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 Scranton

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