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

The USDA zone info for Harrisburg can be reffered to in order to estimate when it's a good idea to plant turnips.

Planting Calendar for Turnips

Frost tolerance for turnips:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Since turnips do not do well in cold weather you really should wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant turnips in Harrisburg 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. Any later than that and your turnips may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your turnips indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Harrisburg the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Harrisburg is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Harrisburg it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your turnips if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Harrisburg

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Harrisburg

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