One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

In Benton you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant artichokes by looking at 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.

Artichokes do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can start planting them earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant artichokes in Benton 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. Starting your artichokes indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Benton. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Benton is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Benton you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your artichokes if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Benton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°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 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Benton

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