One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

A way of estimating when to plant parsnip is to examine the USDA zone info for Fairbanks.

Planting Calendar for Parsnip

Frost tolerance for parsnip:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since parsnip are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant parsnip in Fairbanks 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 parsnip and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your parsnip may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your parsnip indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on May 15 in Fairbanks. You can expect an average low temperature of -50°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Fairbanks and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Fairbanks last frost occurs after May 15 be ready to protect your parsnip if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fairbanks

Here is the info for USDA Zone 2a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	August 15
Lowest Expected Low	-50°F
Highest Expected Low	-45°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -50°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -45°F.

Plants to Grow in Fairbanks

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fairbanks.