Amaranth · Mianyang, Sichuan, China
When to plant amaranth in Mianyang
Main outdoor window
4-25 Mar
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
25 February
In Mianyang, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
12 Jun - 12 Jul
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 Mianyang
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
28 Jan - 18 Feb
Four weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
4-25 Mar
One week after your last frost.
Plant out
11 Mar - 1 Apr
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
12 Jun - 12 Jul
Amaranth through the year
Against the frost risk in Mianyang
Why these dates
Sow after the last frost into warm soil. The seed is very fine and should barely be covered.
Killed by the first frost at either end of the season - it has no cold tolerance at all.
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. Amaranth are timed from 4 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Mianyang.
The median frost-free season here is 286 days, against 100 to 130 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Mianyang
Other grains to time
Growing amaranth in Mianyang
When should I plant amaranth in Mianyang?
Aim for 4-25 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 21 Mar - 11 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will amaranth be ready to harvest in Mianyang?
Expect to start picking around 12 Jun - 12 Jul, based on 100 to 130 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will amaranth tolerate?
Killed by the first frost at either end of the season - it has no cold tolerance at all.