The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Urbandale should be read to determine when it's a good idea to plant carrots.

Planting Calendar for Carrots

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

Carrots tend to make it in some cold which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant carrots in Urbandale 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. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your carrots indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Urbandale. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Urbandale is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Urbandale it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your carrots in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Urbandale

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 Urbandale

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