One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The USDA zone info for Columbia can be read to determine when it's a good idea to plant bittercress.

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.

Bittercress do ok in moderate cold which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant bittercress in Columbia 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 fully mature. You can get started a couple of 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 Columbia. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Columbia is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Columbia last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your bittercress if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Columbia

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Columbia

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