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

By looking at the USDA zone info for Antioch it's a good idea to figure out when it's the best time to plant artichokes.

Planting Calendar for Artichokes

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

Artichokes are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant artichokes in Antioch 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 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

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Antioch. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Antioch is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Antioch there is a last frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your artichokes in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Antioch

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 Antioch

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