One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant jerusalem artichokes in Piedmont can be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Jerusalem artichokes

Frost tolerance for jerusalem artichokes:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Jerusalem artichokes do well in moderate cold which means that you can plant them earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant jerusalem artichokes in Piedmont 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 jerusalem artichokes and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your jerusalem artichokes may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your jerusalem artichokes indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Piedmont the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Piedmont is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Piedmont last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to cover your jerusalem artichokes if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Piedmont

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Piedmont

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Piedmont.