One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

A common way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant garden cress is to refer to the USDA zone info for Chicopee.

Planting Calendar for Garden cress

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

It's not a good idea to plant garden cress until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant garden cress in Chicopee 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your garden cress may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your garden cress indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Chicopee. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Chicopee and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Chicopee there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your garden cress if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Chicopee

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Chicopee

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