Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. 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 Waterloo should be determined by checking out 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.

You can plant parsnip just a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant parsnip in Waterloo 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. Any later than that and your parsnip may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your parsnip indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Waterloo the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Waterloo is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Waterloo you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your parsnip if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Waterloo

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 Waterloo

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