The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when you can plant parsnip is to check out the USDA zone info for Rye.

Planting Calendar for Parsnip

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

Parsnip can survive in moderate cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant parsnip in Rye 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. Any later than that and your parsnip may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your parsnip indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Rye. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

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

USDA Zone Info for Rye

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 Rye

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