One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

The USDA zone info for Rutherford should be reviewed to determine when it's the best time 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 are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant jerusalem artichokes in Rutherford 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. Any later than that and your jerusalem artichokes may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your jerusalem artichokes indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Rutherford. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Rutherford is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Rutherford there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your jerusalem artichokes in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rutherford

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Rutherford

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