Sea kale · Delhi, Delhi, India
When to plant sea kale in Delhi
Main outdoor window
not outdoors here
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
7 January
In Delhi, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Mar - 31 May
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 Delhi
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.
Harvest
1 Mar - 31 May
Sea kale through the year
Against the frost risk in Delhi
Why these dates
Very hardy, to -20C, and tolerant of salt spray and sand.
Sea kale are planted once and then left in place, so there is no sowing offset to resolve. What matters in Delhi is the shape of the year: this crop is dormant through the winter and is planted while it sleeps, any time between leaf fall in autumn and the restart of growth in spring, so long as the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged. That is why the window below spans the cold months rather than sitting in the middle of the growing season.
Delhi sits in zone 10b, which is milder than this crop wants, and a winter that never really arrives is its own problem. The dates below still describe the right time of year; the open question is survival rather than timing.
Do not expect a crop in the first year. A plant set out now should give its first worthwhile pick around year 2, and will then produce every year after that, which is what makes the planting decision worth getting right the first time.
Also in Delhi
Other vegetables to time
Growing sea kale in Delhi
When will sea kale be ready to harvest in Delhi?
Expect to start picking around 1 Mar - 31 May, based on 90 to 120 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will sea kale tolerate?
Very hardy, to -20C, and tolerant of salt spray and sand.