Gherkin · Tianjin, Tianjin, China
When to plant gherkins in Tianjin
Main outdoor window
21 Apr - 12 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
7 April
In Tianjin, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Jul - 30 Sep
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 Tianjin
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
10-31 Mar
Four weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
21 Apr - 12 May
Two weeks after your last frost.
Plant out
21 Apr - 12 May
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 Jul - 30 Sep
Gherkins through the year
Against the frost risk in Tianjin
Why these dates
Start indoors four weeks before the last frost or sow direct two weeks after it. Pick every other day from the moment the first fruit reaches finger length.
Killed at 0C. Cold soil at sowing rots the seed before it germinates, so wait for 15C rather than for the frost date alone.
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. Gherkins are timed from 4 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 Tianjin.
The median frost-free season here is 207 days, against 50 to 65 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Tianjin
Other vegetables to time
Growing gherkins in Tianjin
When should I plant gherkins in Tianjin?
Aim for 21 Apr - 12 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 27 Apr - 18 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will gherkins be ready to harvest in Tianjin?
Expect to start picking around 1 Jul - 30 Sep, based on 50 to 65 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will gherkins tolerate?
Killed at 0C. Cold soil at sowing rots the seed before it germinates, so wait for 15C rather than for the frost date alone.