One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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 way of determining when it's the best time to plant carrots is to use the USDA zone info for Marshall.

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 other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Marshall. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Marshall 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 Marshall you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your carrots if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Marshall

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 Marshall

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