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.

You should be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant melons by reviewing the USDA zone info for Racine.

Planting Calendar for Melons

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

It's a bad idea to plant melons until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant melons in Racine 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your melons may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your melons indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Racine. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Racine is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Racine there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your melons if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Racine

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Racine

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