Turnip · Yongji, Shanxi, China
When to plant turnips in Yongji
Main outdoor window
26 Feb - 12 Mar
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
26 March
In Yongji, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
7-22 Apr
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 Yongji
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
17 Aug - 7 Sep
Counting back 69 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
26 Feb - 12 Mar
Four weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
7-22 Apr
Turnips through the year
Against the frost risk in Yongji
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 Yongji.
The median frost-free season here is 234 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 Yongji
Other vegetables to time
Growing turnips in Yongji
When should I plant turnips in Yongji?
Aim for 26 Feb - 12 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 14-28 Mar - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will turnips be ready to harvest in Yongji?
Expect to start picking around 7-22 Apr, 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.