One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your 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.

You should be able to estimate when you can plant cantaloupes by referring to the USDA zone info for Port Lavaca.

Planting Calendar for Cantaloupes

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

It's not a good idea to plant cantaloupes until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant cantaloupes in Port Lavaca 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 cantaloupes and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your cantaloupes may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your cantaloupes indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Port Lavaca. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Port Lavaca is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Port Lavaca it frosts late in the year after February 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your cantaloupes in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Port Lavaca

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Port Lavaca

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Port Lavaca.