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.

The first opportunity to plant parsley in West Des Moines can be figured out 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.

You can plant parsley a little earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant parsley in West Des Moines 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 fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your parsley indoors.

Last Frost Date

In West Des Moines 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 West Des Moines is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in West Des Moines you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your parsley if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for West Des Moines

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 West Des Moines

You may be interested in your other planting guides for West Des Moines.