Lentil · Yaroslavl, Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia
When to plant lentils in Yaroslavl
Main outdoor window
19 Apr - 10 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
8 May
In Yaroslavl, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
8 Jul - 7 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 Yaroslavl
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 direct
19 Apr - 10 May
Held back until the soil is warm enough for this crop. The frost date on its own would say 10 Apr, which is too cold for it to start.
Harvest
8 Jul - 7 Aug
Lentils through the year
Against the frost risk in Yaroslavl
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 Yaroslavl.
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 151 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 Yaroslavl
Other grains to time
Growing lentils in Yaroslavl
When should I plant lentils in Yaroslavl?
Aim for 19 Apr - 10 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 24 Apr - 15 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
Can I plant lentils earlier in Yaroslavl?
Frost is finished by about 10 Apr, but the soil is still too cold. Lentils will not start until it reaches 5°C (41°F), and here that is around 19 Apr. Going in earlier usually means seed that rots or transplants that sit and sulk, and a later sowing catches them up.
When will lentils be ready to harvest in Yaroslavl?
Expect to start picking around 8 Jul - 7 Aug, 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.