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.

In Richmond you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant parsnip by using 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.

You can plant parsnip a bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant parsnip in Richmond 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Richmond. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Richmond is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Richmond last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your parsnip in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Richmond

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 Richmond

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