Mint · Qujing, Yunnan, China
When to plant mint in Qujing
Main outdoor window
29 Jan - 19 Feb
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
26 February
In Qujing, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
30 Mar - 29 Apr
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 Qujing
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
29 Jan - 19 Feb
Four weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
30 Mar - 29 Apr
Mint through the year
Against the frost risk in Qujing
Why these dates
Establish from a division rather than seed - seed-grown mint is variable and often poorly flavoured. Cut back hard midsummer for fresh growth.
Dies back to the root in winter and returns reliably from -25C. Frost is irrelevant to an established 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. Mint are timed for direct sowing 4 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Qujing.
Growing mint in Qujing
When should I plant mint in Qujing?
Aim for 29 Jan - 19 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 mint be ready to harvest in Qujing?
Expect to start picking around 30 Mar - 29 Apr, based on 60 to 90 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will mint tolerate?
Dies back to the root in winter and returns reliably from -25C. Frost is irrelevant to an established plant.