Lentil · Riga, Riga, Latvia
When to plant lentils in Riga
Main outdoor window
2-23 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
30 April
In Riga, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
21 Jun - 21 Jul
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 Riga
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 autumn
31 May - 21 Jun
Counting back 124 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
2-23 Apr
Four weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
21 Jun - 21 Jul
Lentils through the year
Against the frost risk in Riga
Why these dates
Sow four weeks before the last frost. Lentils are short and easily flattened by rain, so a windless site and a firm seedbed both help at harvest.
Seedlings survive to about -6C, which is why lentils are sown far earlier than most pulses.
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. Lentils are timed for direct sowing 4 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Riga.
The median frost-free season here is 176 days, against 80 to 110 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Riga
Other grains to time
Growing lentils in Riga
When should I plant lentils in Riga?
Aim for 2-23 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 11 Apr - 2 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will lentils be ready to harvest in Riga?
Expect to start picking around 21 Jun - 21 Jul, based on 80 to 110 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will lentils tolerate?
Seedlings survive to about -6C, which is why lentils are sown far earlier than most pulses.