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.

By using the USDA zone info for Hastings you will be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant rock cress.

Planting Calendar for Rock Cress

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

Rock Cress do well in cold which means that you can start planting them much earlier than more sensitive plants.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on May 15 in Hastings. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Hastings is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Hastings there is a last frost after May 15 be ready to cover your rock cress if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hastings

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 Hastings

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