The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By using the USDA zone info for Fairfax you should be able to figure out when it's the best time to plant watercress.

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 can survive in very little cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant watercress in Fairfax 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 fully mature. If you are starting your watercress indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Fairfax. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Fairfax is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Fairfax there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your watercress in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fairfax

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 Fairfax

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