Safe to Plant

Butterhead lettuce · Jining, Shandong, China

When to plant butterhead lettuce in Jining

Main outdoor window

9-23 Mar

The window this page is built around.

Timed from last spring frost

30 March

In Jining, on your chosen risk.

Ready to pick

1 May - 31 Oct

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 Jining

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

Six weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.

Sow for autumn

8-29 Aug

Counting back 74 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.

Sow direct

9-23 Mar

Three weeks before your last frost.

Sow direct

16-30 Mar

Two weeks before your last frost.

Harvest

1 May - 31 Oct

Sow in succession. A single sowing gives you a single glut. Sow a short row every 10 days through the window above and you get a steady supply instead.
Frost tolerance
Half-hardy
Damaged below
-3°C (26.6°F)
Days to maturity
45–60
Min soil temp
4.5°C (40.1°F)
Spacing
25 cm
Sowing depth
6 mm (0.2 in)
Sun
Partial

Butterhead lettuce through the year

Against the frost risk in Jining

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Butterhead lettuce

Frost risk Start indoors Autumn sowing Sow direct Plant out Harvest Today

Why these dates

Sow every ten days from six weeks before the last frost, then stop through the hottest weeks and resume eight weeks before the first autumn frost.

Damaged below about -3C. It is heat rather than cold that ends this crop, with seed germinating badly above 25C.

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. Butterhead lettuce are timed from 6 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Jining.

The median frost-free season here is 227 days, against 45 to 60 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.

See every crop timed for Jining →

Nearby

Butterhead lettuce in places close by

Tai’an 99 km Heze 102 km Liaocheng 127 km Laiwu 131 km Shangqiu 139 km Jinan 145 km

Also in Jining

Other vegetables to time

Tomatoes tender Lettuce half hardy Potatoes half hardy Courgettes tender Sweet peppers tender Carrots hardy Cucumbers tender Green beans tender Peas hardy Garlic very hardy Chilli peppers tender Sweetcorn tender

Growing butterhead lettuce in Jining

When should I plant butterhead lettuce in Jining?

Aim for 9-23 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 18 Mar - 1 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.

When will butterhead lettuce be ready to harvest in Jining?

Expect to start picking around 1 May - 31 Oct, based on 45 to 60 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.

How much frost will butterhead lettuce tolerate?

Damaged below about -3C. It is heat rather than cold that ends this crop, with seed germinating badly above 25C.