One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 common way of getting a good idea when it's a good idea to plant artichokes is to check out the USDA zone info for Grafton.

Planting Calendar for Artichokes

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

Artichokes tend to make it in moderate 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 Grafton 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 fully mature. If you are starting your artichokes indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Grafton. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Grafton is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Grafton there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your artichokes if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Grafton

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 Grafton

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