One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

A common way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant watermelon is to look at the USDA zone info for York.

Planting Calendar for Watermelon

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

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 York 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 really do well. Starting your watermelon indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in York. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for York and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in York you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your watermelon in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for York

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in York

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