When to Plant Watercress in Poquoson, VA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. 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 Poquoson should be used to determine when it's a good idea 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.

Since watercress do ok in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant watercress
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant watercress
Probably not a good time to plant watercress

The earliest that you can plant watercress in Poquoson 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. If you wait any later than that and your watercress may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your watercress indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Poquoson may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Poquoson last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your watercress if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Poquoson

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 Low10°F
Highest Expected Low15°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 Poquoson

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