When to Plant Turnips in Seattle, WA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant turnips in Seattle can be estimated by checking out the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Turnips

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

It's a bad idea to plant turnips until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant turnips
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant turnips
Probably not a good time to plant turnips

The earliest that you can plant turnips in Seattle 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your turnips may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your turnips indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Seattle is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Seattle it frosts late in the year after March 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your turnips if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Seattle

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)November 15
Lowest Expected Low15°F
Highest Expected Low20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Seattle

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