Endive · Korolev, Moscow Oblast, Russia
When to plant endive in Korolev
Main outdoor window
24 Apr - 15 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
3 May
In Korolev, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Aug - 30 Nov
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 Korolev
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
22 Mar - 12 Apr
Six weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
17 May - 7 Jun
Two weeks after your last frost.
Sow direct
24 Apr - 15 May
Held back until the soil is warm enough for this crop. The frost date on its own would say 19 Apr, which is too cold for it to start.
Harvest
1 Aug - 30 Nov
Endive through the year
Against the frost risk in Korolev
Why these dates
Sow from two weeks after the last frost through midsummer for autumn heads. Early sowings bolt, so this is one to hold back rather than rush.
Hardy to about -6C, and blanching heads under a pot also shelters them from the first frosts.
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. Endive are timed from 6 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Korolev.
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.
The median frost-free season here is 157 days, against 80 to 100 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Korolev
Other vegetables to time
Growing endive in Korolev
When should I plant endive in Korolev?
Aim for 24 Apr - 15 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 4-25 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
Can I plant endive earlier in Korolev?
Frost is finished by about 19 Apr, but the soil is still too cold. Endive will not start until it reaches 7°C (44.6°F), and here that is around 24 Apr. Going in earlier usually means seed that rots or transplants that sit and sulk, and a later sowing catches them up.
When will endive be ready to harvest in Korolev?
Expect to start picking around 1 Aug - 30 Nov, based on 80 to 100 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will endive tolerate?
Hardy to about -6C, and blanching heads under a pot also shelters them from the first frosts.