One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your 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.

A way of determining when to plant strawberries is to examine the USDA zone info for Carteret.

Planting Calendar for Strawberries

Frost tolerance for strawberries:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Strawberries are very cold tolerant which tells us that you can start planting them much earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant strawberries in Carteret 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 strawberries and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your strawberries may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your strawberries indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Carteret. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Carteret may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Carteret it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to cover your strawberries if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Carteret

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Carteret

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