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

The first opportunity to plant garden cress in Ames should be figured out by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Garden cress

Frost tolerance for garden cress:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

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

The earliest that you can plant garden cress in Ames is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant garden cress and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your garden cress may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your garden cress indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that USDA zone info for Ames is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Ames there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your garden cress if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ames

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°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 -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Ames

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