When to Plant Parsley in Marshalltown, IA

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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.

The earliest that you can plant parsley in Marshalltown can be determined by looking at the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Parsley

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

Parsley do well in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant parsley in Marshalltown 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 parsley and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your parsley may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your parsley indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Marshalltown. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Marshalltown is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Marshalltown it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your parsley in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Marshalltown

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 Marshalltown

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