Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Gilmer should be reffered to in order to estimate when you can plant cantaloupes.

Planting Calendar for Cantaloupes

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

Since cantaloupes are not cold tolerant you need to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant cantaloupes in Gilmer 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 cantaloupes and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cantaloupes may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your cantaloupes indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Gilmer. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Gilmer and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Gilmer you get a frost after March 15 so always be ready to cover your cantaloupes if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Gilmer

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Gilmer

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