One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can figure out when to plant carrots in Downingtown by looking at 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 are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather 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 Downingtown 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. If you wait 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 little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Downingtown the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Downingtown is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Downingtown there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your carrots in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Downingtown

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 Downingtown

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