One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 will be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant turnips by looking at the USDA zone info for Portsmouth.

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 it's necessary to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant turnips in Portsmouth 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 really do well. If you are starting your turnips indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Portsmouth. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Portsmouth is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Portsmouth you get a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your turnips in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Portsmouth

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 Portsmouth

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