Leaf amaranth · Reading, England, United Kingdom
When to plant leaf amaranth in Reading
Main outdoor window
1-29 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
17 April
In Reading, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Jun - 31 Oct
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 Reading
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.
Sow direct
1-29 May
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 Jun - 31 Oct
Leaf amaranth through the year
Against the frost risk in Reading
Why these dates
Sow onto warm soil from two weeks after the last frost and every two weeks after that. Cut the main stem at about 30cm and it branches into a bushier, more productive plant.
Killed at 0C with no margin at all. Sow late, harvest until the first autumn frost, and expect the plants to collapse overnight when it comes.
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. Leaf amaranth are timed for direct sowing 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Reading.
The median frost-free season here is 210 days, against 30 to 45 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Reading
Other vegetables to time
Growing leaf amaranth in Reading
When should I plant leaf amaranth in Reading?
Aim for 1-29 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 20 May - 17 Jun - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will leaf amaranth be ready to harvest in Reading?
Expect to start picking around 1 Jun - 31 Oct, based on 30 to 45 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will leaf amaranth tolerate?
Killed at 0C with no margin at all. Sow late, harvest until the first autumn frost, and expect the plants to collapse overnight when it comes.