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.

The earliest that you can plant carrots in South Elgin should be determined 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.

Since carrots do well in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant carrots in South Elgin 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 few weeks earlier by starting your carrots indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in South Elgin. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for South Elgin is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in South Elgin last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to protect your carrots in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for South Elgin

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 South Elgin

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Elgin.