One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

One way of estimating when it's the best time to plant melons is to use the USDA zone info for Nederland.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

It's not a good idea to plant melons until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Nederland 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. If you wait 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 couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Nederland. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Nederland may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Nederland last frost occurs after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your melons in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Nederland

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 Nederland

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