Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Newport you can estimate when to plant watercress by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Watercress

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

Watercress are barely cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant watercress in Newport 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 watercress and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your watercress may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your watercress indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Newport. You can expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Newport is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Newport last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your watercress in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Newport

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 Newport

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