One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Tracy you can figure out when you can plant parsnip by looking at 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 tend to make it in some cold which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant parsnip in Tracy 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. If you are starting your parsnip indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Tracy. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Tracy is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Tracy it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to protect your parsnip in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Tracy

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Tracy

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