One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

In Fairbanks you can determine when it's the best time to plant artichokes by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Artichokes

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

You can plant artichokes a bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant artichokes in Fairbanks is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant artichokes and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your artichokes may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your artichokes indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on May 15 in Fairbanks. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -50°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Fairbanks is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Fairbanks last frost occurs after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your artichokes in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fairbanks

Here is the info for USDA Zone 2a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	August 15
Lowest Expected Low	-50°F
Highest Expected Low	-45°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -50°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -45°F.

Plants to Grow in Fairbanks

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