One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Newport should be reffered to in order to figure out when it's possible to plant rock cress.

Planting Calendar for Rock Cress

Frost tolerance for rock cress:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Rock Cress do well in cold which tells us that you can get them planted much earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant rock cress in Newport 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 rock cress and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your rock cress may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your rock cress indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on May 15 in Newport. It might get as low as -30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Newport is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Newport it frosts late in the year after May 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your rock cress if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Newport

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Newport

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