One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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 you can plant parsnip is to consult the USDA zone info for Watertown.

Planting Calendar for Parsnip

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

Parsnip are moderately cold tolerant which tells us 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 Watertown is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant parsnip and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your parsnip may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your parsnip indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Watertown the average date of last frost happens on May 15. It might get as low as -30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Watertown and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Watertown it frosts late in the year after May 15 so always be ready to cover your parsnip in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Watertown

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Watertown

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