Vegetable · Asteraceae
When to plant cardoons
The same species as the globe artichoke, grown for blanched leaf stalks instead of buds. Wrapped and tied for several weeks before cutting.
Start seed indoors
8 weeks before
Counted from your last spring frost.
Plant out
2 weeks after
Counted from your last spring frost.
First worthwhile crop
Year 2
After planting, not after sowing.
Those weeks become real dates once you name a place.
Timing, in frost-relative terms
Seed packets rarely give calendar dates, because a date that suits one latitude is wrong at another. They give offsets from the last spring frost instead, and those offsets are what make cardoons plantable anywhere.
- Start seed indoors 8 weeks before the last frost.
- Plant out 2 weeks after the last frost.
- Expect a first worthwhile crop in year 2 after planting.
- Hardy in USDA zones 7a–10a.
Frost tolerance
As for globe artichoke: about -10C with a dry crown.
Classified as half-hardy, with damage expected below -10°C (14°F)14°F (-10°C).