When to Plant Turnips in Cary, NC

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You should be able to estimate when it's the best time to plant turnips by referring to the USDA zone info for Cary.


Planting Calendar for Turnips

Frost tolerance for turnips: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost has passed.

It's probably not a good idea to plant turnips until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant turnips in Cary 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. If you wait any later than that and your turnips may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your turnips indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Cary. You can expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Cary is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Cary you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your turnips if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Cary

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low5°F
Highest Expected Low10°F

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

Plants to Grow in Cary

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