One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 first chance to plant artichokes in Knoxville should be determined 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 one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant artichokes in Knoxville 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. Any later than that and your artichokes may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your artichokes indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Knoxville the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Knoxville is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Knoxville it frosts late in the year after April 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 Knoxville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Knoxville

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