One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 should be able to determine when to plant carrots by reviewing the USDA zone info for West Salem.

Planting Calendar for Carrots

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

Carrots are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can start planting them earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant carrots in West Salem 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. If you wait any later than that and your carrots may not have a chance to fully mature. 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 May 15 in West Salem. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for West Salem and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in West Salem you get surprised by a frost after May 15 be ready to protect your carrots if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for West Salem

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 West Salem

You may be interested in your other planting guides for West Salem.