Mangetout · Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
When to plant mangetout in Hangzhou
Main outdoor window
4-25 Feb
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
11 March
In Hangzhou, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 May - 31 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 Hangzhou
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
15 Aug - 5 Sep
Counting back 84 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
4-25 Feb
Five weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
1 May - 31 Aug
Mangetout through the year
Against the frost risk in Hangzhou
Why these dates
Sow five weeks before the last frost, and again every fortnight until early summer. Autumn sowings in mild climates overwinter for a very early crop.
The plant takes -6C. Flowers and young pods are damaged near -2C, so a late frost costs you the first picking rather than the plant.
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. Mangetout are timed for direct sowing 5 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Hangzhou.
The median frost-free season here is 262 days, against 55 to 70 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Hangzhou
Other vegetables to time
Growing mangetout in Hangzhou
When should I plant mangetout in Hangzhou?
Aim for 4-25 Feb in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 15 Feb - 8 Mar - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will mangetout be ready to harvest in Hangzhou?
Expect to start picking around 1 May - 31 Aug, based on 55 to 70 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will mangetout tolerate?
The plant takes -6C. Flowers and young pods are damaged near -2C, so a late frost costs you the first picking rather than the plant.