One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

By checking out the USDA zone info for East Peoria it's possible to determine when you can plant jerusalem artichokes.

Planting Calendar for Jerusalem artichokes

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

Jerusalem artichokes are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant jerusalem artichokes in East Peoria 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 jerusalem artichokes and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your jerusalem artichokes may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your jerusalem artichokes indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in East Peoria. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for East Peoria may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in East Peoria you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your jerusalem artichokes in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for East Peoria

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 East Peoria

You may be interested in your other planting guides for East Peoria.