Bitter gourd · Moscow, Moscow, Russia
When to plant bitter gourds in Moscow
Main outdoor window
16 May - 6 Jun
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
2 May
In Moscow, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Jul - 31 Oct
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 Moscow
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
4-25 Apr
Four weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
16 May - 6 Jun
Two weeks after your last frost.
Plant out
16 May - 6 Jun
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 Jul - 31 Oct
Bitter gourds through the year
Against the frost risk in Moscow
Why these dates
Sow two weeks after the last frost onto warm soil, or start indoors four weeks before it. Grow up a strong trellis so the fruit hangs straight.
Killed at 0C and unhappy below 15C. In temperate summers it needs the warmest wall you have.
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. Bitter gourds 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 Moscow.
The median frost-free season here is 158 days, against 70 to 90 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Moscow
Other vegetables to time
Growing bitter gourds in Moscow
When should I plant bitter gourds in Moscow?
Aim for 16 May - 6 Jun in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 1-22 Jun - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will bitter gourds be ready to harvest in Moscow?
Expect to start picking around 1 Jul - 31 Oct, based on 70 to 90 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will bitter gourds tolerate?
Killed at 0C and unhappy below 15C. In temperate summers it needs the warmest wall you have.