One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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 determining when it's a good idea to plant watercress is to look at the USDA zone info for Belle Plaine.

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 slightly earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant watercress in Belle Plaine 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 watercress and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your watercress may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your watercress indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Belle Plaine. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Belle Plaine is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Belle Plaine there is a last frost after May 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your watercress in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Belle Plaine

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Belle Plaine

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Belle Plaine.