When to Plant Indian cress in Santa Barbara, CA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. 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 Santa Barbara can be used to determine when it's possible to plant indian cress.


Planting Calendar for Indian cress

Frost tolerance for indian cress: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After all chance of frost has passed.

Indian cress do not do well in cold weather which means that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant indian cress in Santa Barbara 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 indian cress and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your indian cress may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your indian cress indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Santa Barbara the average date of last frost happens on January 31. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Santa Barbara is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Santa Barbara last frost occurs after January 31 be ready to cover your indian cress if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Barbara

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low30°F
Highest Expected Low35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Santa Barbara

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Santa Barbara.