One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

You can estimate when it's the best time to plant melons in Dayton by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

Melons require warm weather which tells us that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Dayton is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant melons and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your melons may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your melons indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Dayton. You can expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Dayton is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Dayton last frost occurs after February 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your melons if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Dayton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Dayton

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