Winter melon · Multan, Punjab, Pakistan
When to plant winter melons in Multan
Main outdoor window
not outdoors here
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
no spring frost
In Multan, on your chosen risk.
First autumn frost
no autumn frost
The far end of the outdoor season.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Multan
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.
Winter melons through the year
Against the frost risk in Multan
Why these dates
Start indoors five weeks before the last frost and plant out two weeks after it. It needs a longer warm run than a pumpkin, so it is marginal in cool summers.
Killed at 0C. The wax bloom that makes it store so well only develops on fully mature fruit, which needs the whole season.
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. Winter melons 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 Multan.
Also in Multan
Other vegetables to time
Growing winter melons in Multan
How much frost will winter melons tolerate?
Killed at 0C. The wax bloom that makes it store so well only develops on fully mature fruit, which needs the whole season.