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

It's a good idea to figure out when it's a good idea to plant artichokes by checking out the USDA zone info for Caledonia.

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 tells us that you can get them planted earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant artichokes in Caledonia 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

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

Since the USDA zone info for Caledonia may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Caledonia last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your artichokes if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Caledonia

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Caledonia

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