Chervil · Reading, England, United Kingdom
When to plant chervil in Reading
Main outdoor window
20 Mar - 3 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
17 April
In Reading, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
19 May - 8 Jun
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 for overwintering
21 Jul - 11 Aug
Counting back 94 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
20 Mar - 3 Apr
Four weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
19 May - 8 Jun
Chervil through the year
Against the frost risk in Reading
Why these dates
Sow direct in succession from four weeks before the last frost, then stop for high summer and resume in late summer. An autumn sowing under cover picks through winter.
Tolerates about -8C and grows through mild winters in a cold frame, which is when it is at its best.
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. Chervil are timed for direct sowing 4 weeks before 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 60 to 80 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Growing chervil in Reading
When should I plant chervil in Reading?
Aim for 20 Mar - 3 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 8-22 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will chervil be ready to harvest in Reading?
Expect to start picking around 19 May - 8 Jun, based on 60 to 80 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will chervil tolerate?
Tolerates about -8C and grows through mild winters in a cold frame, which is when it is at its best.