One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Zone 5a you can figure out when it's the best time to plant indian cress by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Indian cress

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

Since indian cress require warm weather it is necessary to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant indian 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 indian cress and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your indian cress may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your indian cress indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Zone 5a. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Zone 5a is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Zone 5a you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your indian cress if you have 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.