One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 USDA zone info for Muscle Shoals can be reviewed to determine when you can 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.

Bittercress do ok in a tiny bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant bittercress in Muscle Shoals 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. If you wait any later than that and your bittercress may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your bittercress indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Muscle Shoals. You should expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Muscle Shoals may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Muscle Shoals it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to cover your bittercress in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Muscle Shoals

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 Muscle Shoals

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Muscle Shoals.