Orach · Wuhan, Hubei, China
When to plant orach in Wuhan
Main outdoor window
7-28 Feb
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
21 February
In Wuhan, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Jun - 30 Sep
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 Wuhan
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
7-28 Feb
Two weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
1 Jun - 30 Sep
Orach through the year
Against the frost risk in Wuhan
Why these dates
Sow two weeks before the last frost and pinch the tips to keep it leafy. Left alone it reaches head height and goes to seed by midsummer.
Tolerates about -5C. Young plants take a spring frost without checking, which is why it can go in earlier than true spinach.
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. Orach are timed for direct sowing 2 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Wuhan.
The median frost-free season here is 289 days, against 40 to 60 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Wuhan
Other vegetables to time
Growing orach in Wuhan
When should I plant orach in Wuhan?
Aim for 7-28 Feb in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 24 Feb - 17 Mar - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will orach be ready to harvest in Wuhan?
Expect to start picking around 1 Jun - 30 Sep, based on 40 to 60 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will orach tolerate?
Tolerates about -5C. Young plants take a spring frost without checking, which is why it can go in earlier than true spinach.