One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the 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 making a decision about when it's the best time to plant turnips is to examine the USDA zone info for Rapid City.

Planting Calendar for Turnips

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

Since turnips are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant turnips in Rapid City 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 grow to maturity. 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 Rapid City. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Rapid City and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Rapid City you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your turnips if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Rapid City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°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 -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Rapid City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rapid City.