One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

The earliest that you can plant garden cress in South Elgin can be determined by using 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 has passed.

It's not a good idea to plant garden cress until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant garden cress in South Elgin 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 fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your garden cress indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in South Elgin. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for South Elgin is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in South Elgin it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your garden cress if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for South Elgin

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 South Elgin

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Elgin.