Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of determining when it's possible to plant parsnip is to use the USDA zone info for Mendota.

Planting Calendar for Parsnip

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

Parsnip do ok in some cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The last month that you can plant parsnip and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and 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

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Mendota. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Mendota is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Mendota there is a last frost after February 15 so always be ready to cover your parsnip in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mendota

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Mendota

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