One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

The first chance to plant artichokes in Crystal City should be estimated by referring to 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.

You can plant artichokes a bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant artichokes in Crystal City 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. If you wait any later than that and your artichokes may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your artichokes indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Crystal City. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Crystal City is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Crystal City you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your artichokes in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Crystal City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Crystal City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Crystal City.