The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Zone 8a can be read to figure out when it's a good idea to plant carrots.

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 means that you can get them planted earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant carrots in Zone 8a 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. Any later than that and 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 March 15 in Zone 8a. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Zone 8a is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Zone 8a last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your carrots in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 8a

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 8a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 8a.