Leek · Horlivka, Donetsk, Ukraine
When to plant leeks in Horlivka
Main outdoor window
22 Apr - 13 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
22 April
In Horlivka, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
31 Jul - 20 Aug
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 Horlivka
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
25 Feb - 18 Mar
Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Plant out
22 Apr - 13 May
Around your last frost.
Harvest
31 Jul - 20 Aug
Leeks through the year
Against the frost risk in Horlivka
Why these dates
Sow indoors eight weeks before last frost, transplant around the frost date into deep holes. Harvest from autumn right through to spring as needed.
Hardy to -15C and often the only fresh vegetable still standing in midwinter.
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. Leeks are timed from 8 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 0 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Horlivka.
The median frost-free season here is 175 days, against 100 to 120 days to maturity for this crop counted from planting out. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Horlivka
Other vegetables to time
Growing leeks in Horlivka
When should I plant leeks in Horlivka?
Aim for 22 Apr - 13 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 3-24 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will leeks be ready to harvest in Horlivka?
Expect to start picking around 31 Jul - 20 Aug, based on 100 to 120 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will leeks tolerate?
Hardy to -15C and often the only fresh vegetable still standing in midwinter.