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.

A way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant artichokes is to examine the USDA zone info for Plainview.

Planting Calendar for Artichokes

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

Artichokes are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can get them planted earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant artichokes in Plainview 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. Any later than that and your artichokes may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your artichokes indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Plainview. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Plainview is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Plainview it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your artichokes in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Plainview

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 Plainview

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