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

A way of making a decision about when you can plant jerusalem artichokes is to look at the USDA zone info for Kilgore.

Planting Calendar for Jerusalem artichokes

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

Since jerusalem artichokes are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant jerusalem artichokes in Kilgore 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your jerusalem artichokes may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your jerusalem artichokes indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Kilgore. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Kilgore is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Kilgore it frosts late in the year after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your jerusalem artichokes in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Kilgore

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Kilgore

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