One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the 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 Duquesne should be looked at to estimate when to plant artichokes.

Planting Calendar for Artichokes

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

Artichokes do ok in a little bit of cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant artichokes in Duquesne 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your artichokes may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your artichokes indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Duquesne may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Duquesne last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your artichokes if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Duquesne

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 Duquesne

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