Nasturtium · Jiaozhou, Shandong, China
When to sow nasturtiums in Jiaozhou
Main outdoor window
11-25 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
4 April
In Jiaozhou, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
31 May - 15 Jun
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 Jiaozhou
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
11-25 Apr
One week after your last frost.
In flower
31 May - 15 Jun
Nasturtiums through the year
Against the frost risk in Jiaozhou
Why these dates
Direct sow after last frost. The large seed germinates readily and transplanting is unnecessary.
Frost-tender throughout. Often the first plant in the garden to signal that a frost occurred overnight.
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. Nasturtiums are timed for direct sowing 1 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Jiaozhou.
The median frost-free season here is 221 days, against 50 to 65 days to first flower for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Jiaozhou
Other flowers to time
Growing nasturtiums in Jiaozhou
When should I plant nasturtiums in Jiaozhou?
Aim for 11-25 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 20 Apr - 4 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will nasturtiums be ready to harvest in Jiaozhou?
Expect to start picking around 31 May - 15 Jun, based on 50 to 65 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will nasturtiums tolerate?
Frost-tender throughout. Often the first plant in the garden to signal that a frost occurred overnight.