Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant artichokes by looking at the USDA zone info for Mena.

Planting Calendar for Artichokes

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

Artichokes tend to make it in some cold which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant artichokes in Mena 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 artichokes and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your artichokes may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your artichokes indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Mena. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Mena is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Mena you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your artichokes in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mena

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 Mena

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