When to Plant Turnips in Manchester, IA

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for Manchester it's a good idea to figure out when to plant turnips.


Planting Calendar for Turnips

Frost tolerance for turnips: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After all chance of frost has passed.

Turnips are not cold tolerant which means that you must wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant turnips
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant turnips
Probably not a good time to plant turnips

The earliest that you can plant turnips in Manchester is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant turnips and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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 April 15 in Manchester. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Manchester is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Manchester you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your turnips if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Manchester

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-20°F
Highest Expected Low-15°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 -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Manchester

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