Safe to Plant

Sweet pea · Kolomna, Moscow Oblast, Russia

When to sow sweet peas in Kolomna

Main outdoor window

20 Apr - 11 May

The window this page is built around.

Timed from last spring frost

3 May

In Kolomna, on your chosen risk.

Ready to pick

19 Jul - 8 Aug

If you plant at the start of the window.

The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.

Held back by cold soil. Frost is finished by about 22 Mar here, but sweet peas will not get going until the soil reaches 7°C (44.6°F), and in Kolomna that is around 20 April. The dates above use the later of the two, because sowing into cold soil rots seed rather than gaining you time.

Step by step in Kolomna

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.

Start indoors

22 Feb - 15 Mar

Ten weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.

Sow direct

20 Apr - 11 May

Held back until the soil is warm enough for this crop. The frost date on its own would say 22 Mar, which is too cold for it to start.

Plant out

20 Apr - 11 May

Held back until the soil is warm enough for this crop. The frost date on its own would say 5 Apr, which is too cold for it to start.

In flower

19 Jul - 8 Aug

Frost tolerance
Hardy
Damaged below
-8°C (17.6°F)
Days to flowering
90–110
Min soil temp
7°C (44.6°F)
Spacing
20 cm
Sowing depth
20 mm (0.8 in)
Sun
Full

Sweet peas through the year

Against the frost risk in Kolomna

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Frost risk Start indoors Autumn sowing Sow direct Plant out Harvest Today

Why these dates

Sow in autumn and overwinter in a cold frame in zone 6 and warmer, or start ten weeks before last frost. Pinch at four true leaves.

Young plants take -8C and benefit from the cold. This is a flower where autumn sowing genuinely doubles the season.

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. Sweet peas are timed from 10 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 4 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Kolomna.

With one correction, which is the note at the top of the page: the offset alone would put this crop in soil that is still too cold for it. Where the frost date and the soil temperature disagree, the dates here follow the soil, because a seed in cold ground either rots or waits, and a sowing made a fortnight later usually overtakes it.

The median frost-free season here is 157 days, against 90 to 110 days to first flower for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.

See every crop timed for Kolomna →

Growing sweet peas in Kolomna

When should I plant sweet peas in Kolomna?

Aim for 20 Apr - 11 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 20 Apr - 11 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.

Can I plant sweet peas earlier in Kolomna?

Frost is finished by about 22 Mar, but the soil is still too cold. Sweet peas will not start until it reaches 7°C (44.6°F), and here that is around 20 Apr. Going in earlier usually means seed that rots or transplants that sit and sulk, and a later sowing catches them up.

When will sweet peas be ready to harvest in Kolomna?

Expect to start picking around 19 Jul - 8 Aug, based on 90 to 110 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.

How much frost will sweet peas tolerate?

Young plants take -8C and benefit from the cold. This is a flower where autumn sowing genuinely doubles the season.