When to Plant Watercress in Moline, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to determine when to plant watercress by looking at the USDA zone info for Moline.


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.

You can plant watercress slightly earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant watercress in Moline 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. Any later than that and your watercress may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your watercress indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Moline. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Moline is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Moline last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your watercress if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Moline

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 Moline

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