One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 first opportunity to plant turnips in South Milwaukee can be estimated by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Turnips

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant turnips until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant turnips in South Milwaukee 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. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your turnips indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in South Milwaukee. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for South Milwaukee is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in South Milwaukee it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to cover your turnips in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for South Milwaukee

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

Plants to Grow in South Milwaukee

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