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.

In Elkhart you can figure out when it's possible to plant jerusalem artichokes by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Jerusalem artichokes

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

Since jerusalem artichokes are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant jerusalem artichokes in Elkhart 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. If you wait any later than that and your jerusalem artichokes may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your jerusalem artichokes indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Elkhart. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Elkhart may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Elkhart you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your jerusalem artichokes in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elkhart

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Elkhart

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