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.

The best time to plant watercress in Lake Charles can be determined by referring to the USDA zone info.

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.

You can plant watercress just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant watercress in Lake Charles is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant watercress and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your watercress may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your watercress indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Lake Charles. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Lake Charles and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake Charles it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to cover your watercress in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Charles

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°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 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Lake Charles

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lake Charles.