When to Plant Purple Rock Cress in New Bedford, MA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You should be able to figure out when it's possible to plant purple rock cress by looking at the USDA zone info for New Bedford.


Planting Calendar for Purple Rock Cress

Frost tolerance for purple rock cress: Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant: Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since purple rock cress are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them much earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant purple rock cress
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant purple rock cress
Probably not a good time to plant purple rock cress

The earliest that you can plant purple rock cress in New Bedford is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant purple rock cress and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your purple rock cress may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your purple rock cress indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in New Bedford. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for New Bedford may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in New Bedford you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your purple rock cress in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for New Bedford

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-5°F
Highest Expected Low0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in New Bedford

You may be interested in your other planting guides for New Bedford.