When to Plant Garden cress in West Chester, PA

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

The first opportunity to plant garden cress in West Chester can be determined by checking out the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Garden cress

Frost tolerance for garden cress: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Garden cress do not do well in cold weather which tells us that it is necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant garden cress
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant garden cress
Probably not a good time to plant garden cress

The earliest that you can plant garden cress in West Chester is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant garden cress and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your garden cress may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your garden cress indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that USDA zone info for West Chester is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in West Chester you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your garden cress if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for West Chester

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-5°F
Highest Expected Low0°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 0°F.

Plants to Grow in West Chester

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