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 Escalon you can figure out when it's a good idea 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 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 watercress in Escalon 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. Starting your watercress indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Escalon is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Escalon last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to protect your watercress in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Escalon

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 Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°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 Escalon

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