One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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 Douglas you can estimate when you can plant parsnip by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Parsnip

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

Parsnip do well in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant parsnip in Douglas is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant parsnip and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your parsnip may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your parsnip indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Douglas. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Douglas is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Douglas last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your parsnip in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Douglas

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Douglas

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