When to Plant Carrots in Eldridge, IA

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when to plant carrots is to look at the USDA zone info for Eldridge.


Planting Calendar for Carrots

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

You can plant carrots just a bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant carrots in Eldridge 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. If you are starting your carrots indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Eldridge. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Eldridge and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Eldridge you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your carrots if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Eldridge

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 Eldridge

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