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.

One way of figuring out when to plant artichokes is to use the USDA zone info for Chesapeake.

Planting Calendar for Artichokes

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

Artichokes are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can start planting them earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant artichokes in Chesapeake 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. If you wait any later than that and your artichokes may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your artichokes indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Chesapeake. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Chesapeake is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Chesapeake last frost occurs after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your artichokes if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Chesapeake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Chesapeake

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