One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can figure out when it's a good idea to plant carrots in Austin by reviewing 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 are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant carrots in Austin is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant carrots and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your carrots may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your carrots indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Austin. You can expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Austin is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Austin there is a last frost after May 15 be ready to cover your carrots in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Austin

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Austin

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