One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 looking at the USDA zone info for Socorro you should be able to estimate when it's the best time to plant purple rock cress.

Planting Calendar for Purple Rock Cress

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

Since purple rock cress are very cold tolerant you can plant them earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant purple rock cress in Socorro 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 purple rock cress and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your purple rock cress may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your purple rock cress indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Socorro the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Socorro is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Socorro last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your purple rock cress in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Socorro

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Socorro

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