Safe to Plant

Watercress · Miass, Chelyabinsk, Russia

When to plant watercress in Miass

Main outdoor window

24 Sep - 3 May

The window this page is built around.

Timed from last spring frost

17 May

In Miass, on your chosen risk.

Ready to pick

1 Apr - 31 Oct

If you plant at the start of the window.

The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.

Step by step in Miass

Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.

Plant or sow

24 Sep - 3 May

Any time the plant is dormant and the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged: after leaf fall in autumn, or at the end of winter before growth restarts.

Harvest

1 Apr - 31 Oct

Frost tolerance
Hardy
Damaged below
-6°C (21.2°F)
Hardy to
Zone 5a–11a
Min soil temp
10°C (50°F)
Spacing
15 cm
Sowing depth
5 mm (0.2 in)
Sun
Partial

Watercress through the year

Against the frost risk in Miass

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Frost risk Plant Harvest Today

Why these dates

Plant or sow in spring once the water has warmed, and pick from late spring onwards. Left alone it flowers in midsummer and the leaf turns bitter, so cut hard to keep it vegetative.

Hardy to about -6C. The crown survives cold happily as long as it does not freeze solid, which is what makes running water the traditional site.

Watercress are planted once and then left in place, so there is no sowing offset to resolve. What matters in Miass is the shape of the year: this crop is dormant through the winter and is planted while it sleeps, any time between leaf fall in autumn and the restart of growth in spring, so long as the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged. That is why the window below spans the cold months rather than sitting in the middle of the growing season.

Miass sits in zone 4a, which is colder than this crop is rated for, so it will need winter protection or a container that can be moved under cover. The dates below still describe the right time of year; the open question is survival rather than timing.

See every crop timed for Miass →

Growing watercress in Miass

When should I plant watercress in Miass?

Aim for 24 Sep - 3 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 17 Sep - 17 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.

When will watercress be ready to harvest in Miass?

Expect to start picking around 1 Apr - 31 Oct, based on 50 to 60 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.

How much frost will watercress tolerate?

Hardy to about -6C. The crown survives cold happily as long as it does not freeze solid, which is what makes running water the traditional site.