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.

One way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant parsley is to use the USDA zone info for Smithfield.

Planting Calendar for Parsley

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

You can plant parsley a bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant parsley in Smithfield 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 parsley and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your parsley may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your parsley indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Smithfield. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Smithfield is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Smithfield it frosts late in the year after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your parsley if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Smithfield

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Smithfield

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