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.

A common way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant artichokes is to use the USDA zone info for Temple.

Planting Calendar for Artichokes

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

Since artichokes do well in moderate cold you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Temple. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Temple is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Temple there is a last frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your artichokes in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Temple

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 Temple

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