One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of estimating when it's possible to plant parsnip is to examine the USDA zone info for Rutherford.

Planting Calendar for Parsnip

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

Parsnip are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant parsnip in Rutherford 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. Starting your parsnip indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Rutherford. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rutherford may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Rutherford it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your parsnip if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Rutherford

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Rutherford

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