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 Zone 13a should be read 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 are barely cold tolerant you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant watercress in Zone 13a is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant watercress and expect a good harvest is probably November. 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

In Zone 13a it never frosts. You can expect an average low temperature of 60°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Zone 13a and it is different every year. Since it never frosts in Zone 13a you do not have to be ready to protect your watercress if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 13a

Here is the info for USDA Zone 13a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	Never
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	Never
Lowest Expected Low	60°F
Highest Expected Low	65°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 60°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 65°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 13a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 13a.