One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Mason City you can determine when it's the best time to plant garden cress by reviewing 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 when the weather gets warmer.

Since garden cress require warm weather you must wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant garden cress in Mason City 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. If you wait any later than that and your garden cress may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your garden cress indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Mason City. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Mason City is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Mason City you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your garden cress in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mason City

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 Mason City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Mason City.