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.

In Independence you can figure out when you can plant parsnip by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Parsnip

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

Parsnip are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant parsnip in Independence 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. Any later than that and your parsnip may not have a chance to grow to maturity. 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

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Independence. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Independence and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Independence you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your parsnip in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Independence

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Independence

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