Turnip · Datong, Shanxi, China
When to plant turnips in Datong
Main outdoor window
7-21 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
5 May
In Datong, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
17 May - 1 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 Datong
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 for autumn
4-25 Jul
Counting back 69 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
7-21 Apr
Four weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
17 May - 1 Jun
Turnips through the year
Against the frost risk in Datong
Why these dates
Autumn crops sown eight to ten weeks before first frost are sweeter and less prone to woodiness than anything grown into summer heat.
Tolerates -8C. Roots hold in the ground well past the first frosts.
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. Turnips are timed for direct sowing 4 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Datong.
The median frost-free season here is 150 days, against 40 to 55 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Datong
Other vegetables to time
Growing turnips in Datong
When should I plant turnips in Datong?
Aim for 7-21 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 17 Apr - 1 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will turnips be ready to harvest in Datong?
Expect to start picking around 17 May - 1 Jun, based on 40 to 55 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will turnips tolerate?
Tolerates -8C. Roots hold in the ground well past the first frosts.