When to Plant Garden cress in Zone 5a

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Zone 5a should be used to determine when it's a good idea to plant garden cress.


Planting Calendar for Garden cress

Frost tolerance for garden cress: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After all chance of frost has passed.

Since garden cress are not cold tolerant it's necessary to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant garden cress in Zone 5a is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant garden cress and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your garden cress may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your garden cress indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Zone 5a the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Zone 5a 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 Zone 5a you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your garden cress in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 5a

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-20°F
Highest Expected Low-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 5a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 5a.