When to Plant Watermelon in Madisonville, TN

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Madisonville should be reviewed to figure out when it's possible to plant watermelon.


Planting Calendar for Watermelon

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

Since watermelon are not cold tolerant you have to wait until 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 Madisonville 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. 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 couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Madisonville. You should expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Madisonville is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Madisonville you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your watermelon if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Madisonville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low0°F
Highest Expected Low5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Madisonville

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