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 Chester you can determine when to plant bittercress by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Bittercress

Frost tolerance for bittercress:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since bittercress are barely cold tolerant you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant bittercress in Chester 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 bittercress and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your bittercress may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your bittercress indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Chester. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Chester is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Chester you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your bittercress in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Chester

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 Chester

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