Kohlrabi · Handan, Hebei, China
When to plant kohlrabi in Handan
Main outdoor window
9-23 Mar
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
23 March
In Handan, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
3-23 May
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 Handan
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
16 Feb - 2 Mar
Five weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow for autumn
26 Jul - 16 Aug
Counting back 89 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
9-23 Mar
Two weeks before your last frost.
Plant out
6-20 Apr
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
3-23 May
Kohlrabi through the year
Against the frost risk in Handan
Why these dates
Sow direct two weeks before the last frost and every three weeks after, avoiding high summer. A late-summer sowing crops into autumn.
Tolerates about -6C. The exposed stem is more vulnerable than a buried root would be, so a hard frost damages it directly.
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. Kohlrabi are timed from 5 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 Handan.
The median frost-free season here is 236 days, against 55 to 75 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Handan
Other vegetables to time
Growing kohlrabi in Handan
When should I plant kohlrabi in Handan?
Aim for 9-23 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 25 Mar - 8 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will kohlrabi be ready to harvest in Handan?
Expect to start picking around 3-23 May, based on 55 to 75 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will kohlrabi tolerate?
Tolerates about -6C. The exposed stem is more vulnerable than a buried root would be, so a hard frost damages it directly.