One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

By using the USDA zone info for Valparaiso it's possible to determine when you can plant parsnip.

Planting Calendar for Parsnip

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

Parsnip do well in mild cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant parsnip in Valparaiso 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. If you wait any later than that and your parsnip may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your parsnip indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Valparaiso. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Valparaiso is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Valparaiso last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your parsnip in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Valparaiso

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 Valparaiso

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