One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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 determining when it's a good idea to plant artichokes is to check out the USDA zone info for Radford.

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 mild cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant artichokes in Radford 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 fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your artichokes indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Radford. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Radford is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Radford you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your artichokes if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Radford

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 Radford

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