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

In New Boston you can determine when to plant melons by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

You really shouldn't plant melons until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant melons in New Boston 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 melons and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your melons may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your melons 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 March 15 in New Boston. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for New Boston is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in New Boston you get a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your melons if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for New Boston

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 New Boston

You may be interested in your other planting guides for New Boston.