One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

By using the USDA zone info for Rancho Santa Margarita it's a good idea to figure out when it's the best time to plant turnips.

Planting Calendar for Turnips

Frost tolerance for turnips:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's a bad idea to plant turnips until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant turnips in Rancho Santa Margarita 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 turnips and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your turnips may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your turnips indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Rancho Santa Margarita. You can expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Rancho Santa Margarita and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Rancho Santa Margarita it frosts late in the year after January 31 be ready to protect your turnips in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rancho Santa Margarita

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Rancho Santa Margarita

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rancho Santa Margarita.