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.

The USDA zone info for Billings should be read to figure out when it's a good idea to plant parsnip.

Planting Calendar for Parsnip

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

Parsnip tend to make it in some cold which tells us that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant parsnip in Billings is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant parsnip and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your parsnip may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your parsnip indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on May 15 in Billings. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Billings is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Billings you get surprised by a frost after May 15 be ready to cover your parsnip if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Billings

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Billings

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