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.

A common way of determining when to plant turnips is to consult the USDA zone info for South Boston.

Planting Calendar for Turnips

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

You can not plant turnips until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant turnips in South Boston 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 fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your turnips indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in South Boston. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for South Boston is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in South Boston last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your turnips if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for South Boston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in South Boston

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Boston.