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.

A way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant parsnip is to refer to the USDA zone info for Bethalto.

Planting Calendar for Parsnip

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

Since parsnip are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant parsnip in Bethalto 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 fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your parsnip indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Bethalto. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Bethalto is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Bethalto it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your parsnip if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bethalto

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Bethalto

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