Safe to Plant

Butterhead lettuce · Jinzhong, Shanxi, China

When to plant butterhead lettuce in Jinzhong

Main outdoor window

31 Mar - 14 Apr

The window this page is built around.

Timed from last spring frost

21 April

In Jinzhong, 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 Jinzhong

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

10-24 Mar

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

Sow for autumn

14 Jul - 4 Aug

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

Sow direct

31 Mar - 14 Apr

Three weeks before your last frost.

Sow direct

7-21 Apr

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 Jinzhong

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 Jinzhong.

The median frost-free season here is 180 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 Jinzhong →

Nearby

Butterhead lettuce in places close by

Taiyuan 27 km Lüliang 143 km Shijiazhuang 156 km Changzhi 170 km Handan 195 km Linfen 209 km

Also in Jinzhong

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 Jinzhong

When should I plant butterhead lettuce in Jinzhong?

Aim for 31 Mar - 14 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 8-22 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.

When will butterhead lettuce be ready to harvest in Jinzhong?

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.