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
Watercress through the year
Against the frost risk in Miass
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.
Nearby
Watercress in places close by
Also in Miass
Other vegetables to time
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.