One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Monterey you can determine when to plant carrots by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Carrots

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

Carrots do well in some cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant carrots in Monterey 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 carrots and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your carrots may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your carrots indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Monterey. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Monterey is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Monterey there is a last frost after January 31 so make sure that you are ready to cover your carrots in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Monterey

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Monterey

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