One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the 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.

A common way of estimating when it's the best time to plant artichokes is to check out the USDA zone info for Cambridge.

Planting Calendar for Artichokes

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

You can plant artichokes a little bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant artichokes in Cambridge is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant artichokes and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your artichokes may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your artichokes indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on May 15 in Cambridge. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -30°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Cambridge and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Cambridge it frosts late in the year after May 15 be ready to protect your artichokes in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Cambridge

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Cambridge

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