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.

A common way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant garden cress is to examine the USDA zone info for Traverse City.

Planting Calendar for Garden cress

Frost tolerance for garden cress:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Since garden cress are not cold tolerant it is necessary to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant garden cress in Traverse City 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. Starting your garden cress indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Traverse City. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Traverse City and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Traverse City there is a last frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your garden cress if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Traverse City

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 Traverse City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Traverse City.