Aubergine · Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India
When to plant aubergines in Shimla
Main outdoor window
31 Jan - 21 Feb
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
10 January
In Shimla, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
6-21 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 Shimla
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
15 Nov - 6 Dec
Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Plant out
31 Jan - 21 Feb
Three weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
6-21 Apr
Aubergines through the year
Against the frost risk in Shimla
Why these dates
Aubergine roots resent disturbance and cold. Waiting an extra week for warm soil consistently outperforms planting early and hoping.
Killed at 0C and set back badly by anything under 10C. In cool-summer climates this crop belongs in a greenhouse or polytunnel.
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. Aubergines are timed from 8 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 3 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Shimla.
The median frost-free season here is 351 days, against 65 to 80 days to maturity for this crop counted from planting out. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Shimla
Other vegetables to time
Growing aubergines in Shimla
When should I plant aubergines in Shimla?
Aim for 31 Jan - 21 Feb in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 31 Jan - 21 Feb - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will aubergines be ready to harvest in Shimla?
Expect to start picking around 6-21 Apr, based on 65 to 80 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will aubergines tolerate?
Killed at 0C and set back badly by anything under 10C. In cool-summer climates this crop belongs in a greenhouse or polytunnel.