One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

In Council Bluffs you can figure out when you can plant carrots by reviewing 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.

Since carrots are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant carrots in Council Bluffs is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant carrots and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your carrots may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your carrots indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Council Bluffs. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Council Bluffs is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Council Bluffs there is a last frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your carrots if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Council Bluffs

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 Council Bluffs

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Council Bluffs.