Cape gooseberry · Orël, Oryol oblast, Russia
When to plant cape gooseberries in Orël
Main outdoor window
26 May - 16 Jun
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
1 May
In Orël, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Aug - 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 Orël
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
6-27 Mar
Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Plant out
26 May - 16 Jun
Held back until the soil is warm enough for this crop. The frost date on its own would say 15 May, which is too cold for it to start.
Harvest
1 Aug - 31 Oct
Cape gooseberries through the year
Against the frost risk in Orël
Why these dates
Start indoors 8 weeks before the last frost and plant out after it, exactly as for tomatoes. In a frost-free climate it persists for several years and fruits far more heavily in its second.
Killed by the first real frost where it is grown as an annual, which is what ends the season rather than any decision of the gardener's.
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. Cape gooseberries 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 Orël.
With one correction, which is the note at the top of the page: the offset alone would put this crop in soil that is still too cold for it. Where the frost date and the soil temperature disagree, the dates here follow the soil, because a seed in cold ground either rots or waits, and a sowing made a fortnight later usually overtakes it.
Orël sits in zone 5a, which is colder than this crop is rated for, so it will need winter protection or a container that can be moved under cover. The dates below still describe the right time of year; the open question is survival rather than timing.
The median frost-free season here is 160 days, against 100 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 Orël
Other fruits to time
Growing cape gooseberries in Orël
When should I plant cape gooseberries in Orël?
Aim for 26 May - 16 Jun in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 30 May - 20 Jun - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
Can I plant cape gooseberries earlier in Orël?
Frost is finished by about 15 May, but the soil is still too cold. Cape gooseberries will not start until it reaches 15°C (59°F), and here that is around 26 May. Going in earlier usually means seed that rots or transplants that sit and sulk, and a later sowing catches them up.
When will cape gooseberries be ready to harvest in Orël?
Expect to start picking around 1 Aug - 31 Oct, based on 100 to 130 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will cape gooseberries tolerate?
Killed by the first real frost where it is grown as an annual, which is what ends the season rather than any decision of the gardener's.