When to Sow Carrots in Florida: Counting Back From the Last Frost
Florida’s carrot timing hinges less on a single frost date than on what’s under your boots.
Gardening in Florida
Everything we have worked out for Florida: what to plant and when, which varieties finish in time, the pests that actually turn up here, and the jobs that pay off month by month. We also cover the rest of the property, from lawns and soil to home care and energy, because a garden rarely stops at the vegetable bed.
The numbers first, because everything else follows from them. Measured at the weather station in Jacksonville, the last spring freeze runs February 16 to March 7 and the first fall freeze runs November 26 to December 13, USDA zones 8b-11b, 7,000 growing degree days in the year.
Heat, not frost, is what shortens the season here: above 86 °F tomato pollen goes sterile, so growers run a spring crop and an autumn one rather than a single long season. Garlic is the awkward one: only 0 weeks below 40 °F, where it needs six to split into cloves. Chill the cloves before planting, or grow a softneck type.
Elsewhere on the property in Florida: the pests that turn up here.
Figures from NOAA's 1991-2020 climate normals. A state is not one climate: elevation, a large lake or the coast can move these dates by two weeks either way, so check your own county with the extension service before you spend money.
Will Carrots Fork in Florida Soil?
Florida’s official state soil, the Myakka series, is almost pure sand: 97 percent sand, 2 percent clay, 1 percent silt.
When to Sow Beets in Florida
In north Florida, the sowing window for beets runs from mid-January into February, timed two to three weeks ahead of the region’s last frost, which…
Beet Soil in Florida: What the Root Will Meet
Florida’s answer isn’t a single soil at all. Statewide, ground tends to run sandy and acid, with drainage that varies by inches of elevation more than by…
Why Peppers Fail to Set Fruit in Florida
Peppers stop setting fruit in Florida mostly because the state’s long stretch of 90-plus-degree days crosses the threshold where pollen stops working…
When to Start Pepper Seed in Florida
In north Florida, indoor pepper seed starting typically falls between early December and mid-January, timed to a transplant date that comes after the…
Growing Pumpkins in Florida: Will They Ripen in Time?
North Florida gardeners can grow a ripe Halloween pumpkin, but the flowering date is what decides it, not the sowing date.
Growing Beets in Florida: Soil, Sowing and Bolting
Florida’s beet growers face a soil that drains too fast on top and drowns too easily underneath, plus a calendar split cleanly between a frost-driven…
Growing Parsnips in Florida: Will They Sweeten?
Florida’s answer is mostly no. The state’s coldest month rarely delivers the sustained frosty stretch a parsnip needs to convert its starch to sugar, and…
When to Plant Potatoes in Florida: Counting Back From Your Last Frost
The last-frost window for north Florida, referenced to Jacksonville (NOAA station USW00013889), runs February 16 to March 7.