Cardoon · Kunming, Yunnan, China
When to plant cardoons in Kunming
Main outdoor window
21 Feb - 21 Mar
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
7 February
In Kunming, 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 Kunming
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
12 Dec - 10 Jan
Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Plant out
21 Feb - 21 Mar
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 Oct - 30 Nov
Cardoons through the year
Against the frost risk in Kunming
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 Kunming.
Hardiness is not the obstacle here. Kunming is zone 9b, 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 Kunming
Other vegetables to time
Growing cardoons in Kunming
When should I plant cardoons in Kunming?
Aim for 21 Feb - 21 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 16 Mar - 13 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will cardoons be ready to harvest in Kunming?
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.