One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of figuring out when it's possible to plant jerusalem artichokes is to use the USDA zone info for Laurel.

Planting Calendar for Jerusalem artichokes

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

You can plant jerusalem artichokes a little bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant jerusalem artichokes in Laurel 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your jerusalem artichokes may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your jerusalem artichokes indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Laurel. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Laurel is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Laurel last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to cover your jerusalem artichokes in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Laurel

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Laurel

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