Nasturtium · Tongchuanshi, Shaanxi, China
When to sow nasturtiums in Tongchuanshi
Main outdoor window
2-16 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
26 March
In Tongchuanshi, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
22 May - 6 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 Tongchuanshi
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
2-16 Apr
One week after your last frost.
In flower
22 May - 6 Jun
Nasturtiums through the year
Against the frost risk in Tongchuanshi
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 Tongchuanshi.
The median frost-free season here is 226 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 Tongchuanshi
Other flowers to time
Growing nasturtiums in Tongchuanshi
When should I plant nasturtiums in Tongchuanshi?
Aim for 2-16 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 Tongchuanshi?
Expect to start picking around 22 May - 6 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.