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

A way of making a decision about when to plant watercress is to check out the USDA zone info for Buckeye.

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.

Since watercress do ok in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant watercress in Buckeye 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your watercress may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your watercress indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Buckeye the average date of last frost happens on February 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Buckeye is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Buckeye it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to protect your watercress if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Buckeye

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 Buckeye

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