One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your 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 Ketchikan should be looked at to figure out when it's possible to plant bittercress.

Planting Calendar for Bittercress

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

Since bittercress do ok in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant bittercress in Ketchikan 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 bittercress and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your bittercress may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your bittercress indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Ketchikan the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ketchikan is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Ketchikan last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your bittercress in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ketchikan

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Ketchikan

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