One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant garden cress is to consult the USDA zone info for Aiken.

Planting Calendar for Garden cress

Frost tolerance for garden cress:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

It's not a good idea to plant garden cress until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant garden cress in Aiken 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 fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your garden cress indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Aiken. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Aiken is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Aiken you get a frost after March 15 so always be ready to protect your garden cress in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Aiken

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Aiken

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