One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

A way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant watercress is to refer to the USDA zone info for Homewood.

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 do ok in moderate cold which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant watercress in Homewood is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant watercress and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your watercress may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your watercress indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Homewood the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Homewood is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Homewood there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your watercress in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Homewood

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Homewood

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