Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Estherville you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant carrots by looking at 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 are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can get them planted earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant carrots in Estherville 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 few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Estherville. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Estherville may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Estherville it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your carrots in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Estherville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Estherville

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