One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

It's possible to figure out when it's the best time to plant artichokes by looking at the USDA zone info for Red Oak.

Planting Calendar for Artichokes

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

Artichokes do well in moderate cold which means that you can get them planted earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant artichokes in Red Oak 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. If you wait any later than that and your artichokes may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your artichokes indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Red Oak. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Red Oak and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Red Oak last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your artichokes in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Red Oak

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Red Oak

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Red Oak.