When to Plant Turnips in Decatur, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

You can figure out when you can plant turnips in Decatur by reviewing the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Turnips

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

Since turnips do not do well in cold weather it's important to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant turnips in Decatur 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 fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your turnips indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Decatur. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Decatur may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Decatur you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your turnips if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Decatur

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 Decatur

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