Carrot · Guankou, Hunan, China
When to plant carrots in Guankou
Main outdoor window
30 Jan - 20 Feb
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
20 February
In Guankou, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
31 Mar - 20 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 Guankou
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 overwintering
12 Aug - 2 Sep
Counting back 94 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
30 Jan - 20 Feb
Three weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
31 Mar - 20 Apr
Carrots through the year
Against the frost risk in Guankou
Why these dates
Sow from three weeks before last frost. Keep the seedbed continuously damp for the two to three weeks germination takes - this single detail decides most carrot crops.
Seedlings tolerate -6C. Mature roots can be left in the ground under mulch and lifted through winter in all but the coldest zones.
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. Carrots are timed for direct sowing 3 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Guankou.
The median frost-free season here is 288 days, against 60 to 80 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Guankou
Other vegetables to time
Growing carrots in Guankou
When should I plant carrots in Guankou?
Aim for 30 Jan - 20 Feb in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 18 Feb - 11 Mar - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will carrots be ready to harvest in Guankou?
Expect to start picking around 31 Mar - 20 Apr, based on 60 to 80 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will carrots tolerate?
Seedlings tolerate -6C. Mature roots can be left in the ground under mulch and lifted through winter in all but the coldest zones.