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

In Columbia you can figure out when it's the best time to plant carrots by referring to 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 do well in moderate cold which means that you can get them planted earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant carrots in Columbia 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 fully mature. Starting your carrots indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Columbia. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Columbia is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Columbia you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your carrots in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Columbia

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Columbia

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