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.

You should be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant parsnip by looking at the USDA zone info for Kansas City.

Planting Calendar for Parsnip

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

Parsnip do ok in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant parsnip in Kansas City 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 fully mature. If you are starting your parsnip indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Kansas City the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Kansas City and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Kansas City it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your parsnip in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Kansas City

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 Kansas City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Kansas City.