One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

You can estimate when to plant bittercress in Houghton by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Bittercress

Frost tolerance for bittercress:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Bittercress tend to make it in very little cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant bittercress in Houghton 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 bittercress and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your bittercress may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your bittercress indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Houghton the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Houghton is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Houghton it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your bittercress if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Houghton

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 Houghton

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