Late planting of carrots

[Vicky]

Is there a fall planting time for carrots in the NorthEast? I am zone 6a.

[rainbowgardener]

Your seed packet should tell you a days to harvest number. If it isn't on the packet, you can look the variety up on-line to find it. Depending on the variety that can be 50 to 80 days. So you can count back from your average first frost date to tell if you have time for a fall planting or not. My average first frost is mid-October. So if my carrots had 60 days to maturity, I would have to have the seeds in the ground by mid-August. Earlier would be ok. Any later and I wouldn't get decent sized carrots, though I might be able to harvest them as baby carrots. Carrots can be left in the ground after first frost, covered well, to store them, but they won't grow any more at that point.