Watermelon · Raleigh, North Carolina, United States
When to plant watermelons in Raleigh
Main outdoor window
12 Apr - 3 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
29 March
In Raleigh, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Aug - 30 Sep
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Raleigh
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Start indoors
22 Feb - 15 Mar
Five weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Plant out
12 Apr - 3 May
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 Aug - 30 Sep
Watermelons through the year
Against the frost risk in Raleigh
Why these dates
Start indoors five weeks before the last frost in pots that will not disturb the roots, and plant out two weeks after it under fleece or black plastic to lift soil temperature.
Killed at 0C, and checked hard by anything below 12C. Frost dates matter less here than the run of warm nights between them.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Watermelons are timed from 5 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Raleigh.
The median frost-free season here is 224 days, against 80 to 110 days to maturity for this crop counted from planting out. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Raleigh
Other vegetables to time
Growing watermelons in Raleigh
When should I plant watermelons in Raleigh?
Aim for 12 Apr - 3 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 26 Apr - 17 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will watermelons be ready to harvest in Raleigh?
Expect to start picking around 1 Aug - 30 Sep, based on 80 to 110 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will watermelons tolerate?
Killed at 0C, and checked hard by anything below 12C. Frost dates matter less here than the run of warm nights between them.