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

One way of making a decision about when to plant turnips is to check out the USDA zone info for Louisville.

Planting Calendar for Turnips

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

Since turnips are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant turnips in Louisville 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your turnips may not have a chance to really do well. 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 Louisville. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Louisville and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Louisville it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your turnips in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Louisville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Louisville

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