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

The USDA zone info for Niles can be looked at to determine when to 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 do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can get them planted earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant jerusalem artichokes in Niles 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 really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your jerusalem artichokes indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Niles the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Niles is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Niles last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your jerusalem artichokes if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Niles

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 Niles

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