Chinese artichoke · Mainz, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
When to plant chinese artichokes in Mainz
Main outdoor window
20 Apr - 11 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
20 April
In Mainz, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Oct - 31 Dec
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 Mainz
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.
Plant tubers
20 Apr - 11 May
Around your last frost.
Harvest
1 Oct - 31 Dec
Chinese artichokes through the year
Against the frost risk in Mainz
Why these dates
Plant tubers around the last frost date and leave undisturbed all season. Lift after the top growth has died back in late autumn, and expect to miss a few.
Tubers are hardy to about -8C in the ground and are best left there and dug as needed, since they shrivel quickly once lifted.
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. Chinese artichokes are timed with planting out 0 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Mainz.
The median frost-free season here is 201 days, against 180 to 210 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Mainz
Other vegetables to time
Growing chinese artichokes in Mainz
When should I plant chinese artichokes in Mainz?
Aim for 20 Apr - 11 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 4-25 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will chinese artichokes be ready to harvest in Mainz?
Expect to start picking around 1 Oct - 31 Dec, based on 180 to 210 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will chinese artichokes tolerate?
Tubers are hardy to about -8C in the ground and are best left there and dug as needed, since they shrivel quickly once lifted.