The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Chowchilla you can estimate when to plant watercress by checking out 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.

Since watercress are barely cold tolerant you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant watercress in Chowchilla 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. Any later than that and your watercress may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your watercress indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Chowchilla. You should expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

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

USDA Zone Info for Chowchilla

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 Chowchilla

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