Cardoon · Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China
When to plant cardoons in Shijiazhuang
Main outdoor window
14 Apr - 12 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
31 March
In Shijiazhuang, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Oct - 30 Nov
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Shijiazhuang
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Start indoors
3 Feb - 3 Mar
Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Plant out
14 Apr - 12 May
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 Oct - 30 Nov
Cardoons through the year
Against the frost risk in Shijiazhuang
Why these dates
As for globe artichoke: about -10C with a dry crown.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Cardoons are timed from 8 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Shijiazhuang.
Hardiness is not the obstacle here. Shijiazhuang is zone 7b, comfortably inside the range this crop is rated for, so an established plant should come through an average winter without protection.
Do not expect a crop in the first year. A plant set out now should give its first worthwhile pick around year 2, and will then produce every year after that, which is what makes the planting decision worth getting right the first time.
Also in Shijiazhuang
Other vegetables to time
Growing cardoons in Shijiazhuang
When should I plant cardoons in Shijiazhuang?
Aim for 14 Apr - 12 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 28 Apr - 26 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will cardoons be ready to harvest in Shijiazhuang?
Expect to start picking around 1 Oct - 30 Nov, based on 150 to 180 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will cardoons tolerate?
As for globe artichoke: about -10C with a dry crown.