Savoy cabbage · Chengdu, Sichuan, China
When to plant savoy cabbages in Chengdu
Main outdoor window
24 Jan - 14 Feb
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
14 February
In Chengdu, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Oct - 28 Feb
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 Chengdu
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
19 Dec - 10 Jan
Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Transplant
24 Jan - 14 Feb
Three weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
1 Oct - 28 Feb
Savoy cabbages through the year
Against the frost risk in Chengdu
Why these dates
Sown in late spring and planted out by midsummer, savoys mature from mid-autumn and can then be cut as needed for months rather than harvested all at once.
Reliably hardy to about -12C and improved by frost, which is why savoy is the type to grow if your winter has teeth.
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. Savoy cabbages are timed from 8 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 3 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Chengdu.
The median frost-free season here is 300 days, against 90 to 130 days to maturity for this crop counted from planting out. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Chengdu
Other vegetables to time
Growing savoy cabbages in Chengdu
When should I plant savoy cabbages in Chengdu?
Aim for 24 Jan - 14 Feb in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 13 Feb - 6 Mar - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will savoy cabbages be ready to harvest in Chengdu?
Expect to start picking around 1 Oct - 28 Feb, based on 90 to 130 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will savoy cabbages tolerate?
Reliably hardy to about -12C and improved by frost, which is why savoy is the type to grow if your winter has teeth.