When to Plant Watercress in Colton, CA

One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

You can determine when it's the best time to plant watercress in Colton by using 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.

Watercress are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which tells us that you can start planting them slightly earlier than more sensitive plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant watercress
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant watercress
Probably not a good time to plant watercress

The earliest that you can plant watercress in Colton 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 fully mature. If you are starting your watercress indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Colton. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Colton and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Colton last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to protect your watercress in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Colton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low25°F
Highest Expected Low30°F

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

Plants to Grow in Colton

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