One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

The earliest that you can plant parsnip in Rifle can be estimated by referring to 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 are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant parsnip in Rifle 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. If you wait any later than that and your parsnip may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your parsnip indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Rifle. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rifle is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Rifle you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your parsnip in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rifle

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

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

Plants to Grow in Rifle

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