Scorzonera · Zhu Cheng City, Shandong, China
When to plant scorzonera in Zhu Cheng City
Main outdoor window
17 Mar - 7 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
31 March
In Zhu Cheng City, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Oct - 31 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 Zhu Cheng City
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
17 Mar - 7 Apr
Two weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
1 Oct - 31 Mar
Scorzonera through the year
Against the frost risk in Zhu Cheng City
Why these dates
Very hardy. Left in the ground and lifted through winter.
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. Scorzonera are timed for direct sowing 2 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Zhu Cheng City.
Hardiness is not the obstacle here. Zhu Cheng City is zone 7b, comfortably inside the range this crop is rated for, so an established plant should come through an average winter without protection.
Do not expect a crop in the first year. A plant set out now should give its first worthwhile pick around year 1, and will then produce every year after that, which is what makes the planting decision worth getting right the first time.
Also in Zhu Cheng City
Other vegetables to time
Growing scorzonera in Zhu Cheng City
When should I plant scorzonera in Zhu Cheng City?
Aim for 17 Mar - 7 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 28 Mar - 18 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will scorzonera be ready to harvest in Zhu Cheng City?
Expect to start picking around 1 Oct - 31 Mar, based on 120 to 150 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will scorzonera tolerate?
Very hardy. Left in the ground and lifted through winter.