Mint · Shijie, Guangdong, China
When to plant mint in Shijie
Main outdoor window
21 Dec - 11 Jan
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
18 January
In Shijie, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
19 Feb - 21 Mar
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 Shijie
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
21 Dec - 11 Jan
Four weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
19 Feb - 21 Mar
Mint through the year
Against the frost risk in Shijie
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 Shijie.
Growing mint in Shijie
When should I plant mint in Shijie?
Aim for 21 Dec - 11 Jan in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 27 Dec - 17 Jan - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will mint be ready to harvest in Shijie?
Expect to start picking around 19 Feb - 21 Mar, 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.