One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

In Washington you can determine when it's the best time to plant turnips by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Turnips

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

You should not plant turnips until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant turnips in Washington 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. If you wait any later than that and your turnips may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your turnips indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that USDA zone info for Washington is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Washington you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your turnips in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Washington

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 Washington

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