Carrot · Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
When to plant carrots in Saskatoon
Main outdoor window
23 Apr - 14 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
14 May
In Saskatoon, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
22 Jun - 12 Jul
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Saskatoon
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Sow direct
23 Apr - 14 May
Three weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
22 Jun - 12 Jul
Carrots through the year
Against the frost risk in Saskatoon
Why these dates
Sow from three weeks before last frost. Keep the seedbed continuously damp for the two to three weeks germination takes - this single detail decides most carrot crops.
Seedlings tolerate -6C. Mature roots can be left in the ground under mulch and lifted through winter in all but the coldest zones.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Carrots are timed for direct sowing 3 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Saskatoon.
The median frost-free season here is 138 days, against 60 to 80 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Saskatoon
Other vegetables to time
Growing carrots in Saskatoon
When should I plant carrots in Saskatoon?
Aim for 23 Apr - 14 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 2-23 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will carrots be ready to harvest in Saskatoon?
Expect to start picking around 22 Jun - 12 Jul, based on 60 to 80 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will carrots tolerate?
Seedlings tolerate -6C. Mature roots can be left in the ground under mulch and lifted through winter in all but the coldest zones.