Mangetout · Qingdao, Shandong, China
When to plant mangetout in Qingdao
Main outdoor window
2-23 Feb
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
9 March
In Qingdao, 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 Qingdao
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 Aug - 21 Sep
Counting back 84 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
2-23 Feb
Five weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
1 May - 31 Aug
Mangetout through the year
Against the frost risk in Qingdao
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 Qingdao.
The median frost-free season here is 280 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 Qingdao
Other vegetables to time
Growing mangetout in Qingdao
When should I plant mangetout in Qingdao?
Aim for 2-23 Feb in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 13 Feb - 6 Mar - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will mangetout be ready to harvest in Qingdao?
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.