One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Petal you can estimate when it's possible to plant rock cress by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Rock Cress

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

Since rock cress are very cold tolerant you can plant them much earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant rock cress in Petal is February. However, you really should wait until March 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 September. If you wait any later than that and your rock cress may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your rock cress indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Petal. You should expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Petal is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Petal last frost occurs after March 15 so always be ready to cover your rock cress if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Petal

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 Petal

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