One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Gardner you can estimate when it's possible 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.

Since artichokes are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant artichokes in Gardner 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your artichokes may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your artichokes indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Gardner the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Gardner is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Gardner it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your artichokes in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Gardner

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 Gardner

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