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.

You should be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant carrots by reviewing the USDA zone info for Orange.

Planting Calendar for Carrots

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

Since carrots are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant carrots in Orange 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. If you wait any later than that and your carrots may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your carrots indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Orange. You should expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Orange is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Orange there is a last frost after January 31 be ready to protect your carrots in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Orange

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 Orange

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