One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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 you can plant beets is to consult the USDA zone info for Carthage.

Planting Calendar for Beets

Frost tolerance for beets:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Beets do well in a little bit of cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant beets in Carthage 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 beets and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your beets may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your beets 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 Carthage. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Carthage is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Carthage you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your beets if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Carthage

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 Carthage

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