One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The earliest that you can plant turnips in Chesapeake should be determined by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Turnips

Frost tolerance for turnips:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Since turnips do not do well in cold weather it is important to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant turnips in Chesapeake 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. Starting your turnips indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Chesapeake. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Chesapeake and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Chesapeake last frost occurs after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your turnips if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Chesapeake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Chesapeake

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