When to Plant Parsnip in Kalispell, MT

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 Kalispell should be looked at to figure out when it's the best time 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.

Since parsnip do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant parsnip
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant parsnip
Probably not a good time to plant parsnip

The earliest that you can plant parsnip in Kalispell 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

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Kalispell. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Kalispell is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Kalispell it frosts late in the year 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 Kalispell

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-20°F
Highest Expected Low-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Kalispell

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