When to Plant Parsnip in Zone 9b

One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 USDA zone info for Zone 9b can be used to determine when it's the best time to plant parsnip.

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Planting Calendar for Parsnip

Frost tolerance for parsnip: Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant: Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Parsnip are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant parsnip in Zone 9b is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant parsnip and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your parsnip may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your parsnip indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Zone 9b. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Zone 9b and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Zone 9b there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to cover your parsnip in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 9b

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low25°F
Highest Expected Low30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 9b

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 9b.