The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant watercress is to examine the USDA zone info for Natchez.

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.

Watercress do ok in moderate cold which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant watercress in Natchez 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. 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

In Natchez the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Natchez is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Natchez you get a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your watercress if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Natchez

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Natchez

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