One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant carrots is to look at the USDA zone info for Chicago.

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 just a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant carrots in Chicago 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. If you wait 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

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Chicago. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Chicago is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Chicago it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your carrots in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Chicago

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Chicago

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