One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

The earliest that you can plant turnips in Petal should be estimated by referring to the USDA zone info.

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 it is necessary to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant turnips in Petal 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. Any later than that and your turnips may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your turnips indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Petal is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Petal you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your turnips if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Petal

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Petal

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