Swiss chard · Qingpu, Shanghai, China
When to plant swiss chard in Qingpu
Main outdoor window
16 Feb - 9 Mar
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
2 March
In Qingpu, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
7-17 Apr
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 Qingpu
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
26 Jan - 16 Feb
Five weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow for overwintering
9-30 Sep
Counting back 74 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
16 Feb - 9 Mar
Two weeks before your last frost.
Plant out
23 Feb - 16 Mar
One week before your last frost.
Harvest
7-17 Apr
Swiss chard through the year
Against the frost risk in Qingpu
Why these dates
One spring sowing usually lasts until hard frost. In mild climates it overwinters and produces an early spring flush before bolting.
Takes -5C without protection. Under a cloche it will hold through much colder weather and resume growth in late winter.
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. Swiss chard are timed from 5 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 1 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Qingpu.
The median frost-free season here is 287 days, against 50 to 60 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Qingpu
Other vegetables to time
Growing swiss chard in Qingpu
When should I plant swiss chard in Qingpu?
Aim for 16 Feb - 9 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 28 Feb - 21 Mar - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will swiss chard be ready to harvest in Qingpu?
Expect to start picking around 7-17 Apr, based on 50 to 60 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will swiss chard tolerate?
Takes -5C without protection. Under a cloche it will hold through much colder weather and resume growth in late winter.