When to Plant Watercress in Barrington, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Barrington you can estimate when you can plant watercress by referring to the USDA zone info.

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Planting Calendar for Watercress

Frost tolerance for watercress: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Watercress do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant watercress
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant watercress
Probably not a good time to plant watercress

The earliest that you can plant watercress in Barrington 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 watercress and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your watercress may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your watercress indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Barrington. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Barrington is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Barrington there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your watercress in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Barrington

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 Barrington

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