One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

In Newcastle you can figure out when it's the best time to plant jerusalem artichokes by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Jerusalem artichokes

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

You can plant jerusalem artichokes a little bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant jerusalem artichokes in Newcastle 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 really do well. Starting your jerusalem artichokes indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Newcastle the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Newcastle is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Newcastle there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your jerusalem artichokes if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Newcastle

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 Newcastle

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