The Modern Victory Garden

How late can you plant carrot seeds outdoors in zone 8b?

I am not sure I know the answer to this Opt Out En Masse.  If you wanted to have a crop for fall/winter eating - then you need to plant the seed bed no latter than mid July.   However, you can plant carrots later in the fall and they will germinate but will be immature plants that with a little luck will overwinter and then resume growth very early in the spring.   The cro would be ready by mid to late spring for first harvests.    I have never done the latter with carrots.   I prefer to plant my fall/winter crop of carrots in July so I have a big bed of mature carrots to over winter for fresh eating all through the dark days of  late fall and winter.   Carrots and parsnips are my favorite overwintered harvest crops.

I planted Red Dragon seeds in August and 6 weeks later was pulling up nice sized carrots - they are very hardy, quick to germinate and were prolific compared to the nantaise ones I planted that were poor to germinate and are still tiny.  Now they are getting quite large and lovely fun for the kids to pull out.  Some are as round as small beets and as just as red on the outside but the inside is deep orange with yellow core.  They are gorgeous when sliced!