One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

A common way of estimating when to plant melons is to check out the USDA zone info for Rutland.

Planting Calendar for Melons

Frost tolerance for melons:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

You should not plant melons until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Rutland 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. If you wait any later than that and your melons may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your melons indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Rutland the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Rutland may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Rutland you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your melons in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rutland

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°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 -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Rutland

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