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

You can determine when you can plant watercress in Belding by reviewing the USDA zone info.

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.

Since watercress are barely cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant watercress in Belding 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your watercress may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your watercress indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Belding. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Belding is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Belding it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to cover your watercress if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Belding

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 Belding

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