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.

You can figure out when it's the best time to plant parsnip in Charleston by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Parsnip

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

You can plant parsnip a little bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant parsnip in Charleston is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant parsnip and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and 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 February 15 in Charleston. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Charleston is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Charleston there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to protect your parsnip if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Charleston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°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 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Charleston

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