One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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.

One way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant bittercress is to check out the USDA zone info for Sumter.

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 more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant bittercress in Sumter 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. If you wait any later than that and your bittercress may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your bittercress indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Sumter. 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 Sumter is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Sumter you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your bittercress if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Sumter

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 Sumter

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