Chervil · Kansas City, Kansas, United States
When to plant chervil in Kansas City
Main outdoor window
18 Mar - 1 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
15 April
In Kansas City, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
17 May - 6 Jun
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 Kansas City
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
4-25 Jul
Counting back 94 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
18 Mar - 1 Apr
Four weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
17 May - 6 Jun
Chervil through the year
Against the frost risk in Kansas City
Why these dates
Sow direct in succession from four weeks before the last frost, then stop for high summer and resume in late summer. An autumn sowing under cover picks through winter.
Tolerates about -8C and grows through mild winters in a cold frame, which is when it is at its best.
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. Chervil are timed for direct sowing 4 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Kansas City.
The median frost-free season here is 195 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.
Growing chervil in Kansas City
When should I plant chervil in Kansas City?
Aim for 18 Mar - 1 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 25 Mar - 8 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will chervil be ready to harvest in Kansas City?
Expect to start picking around 17 May - 6 Jun, based on 60 to 80 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will chervil tolerate?
Tolerates about -8C and grows through mild winters in a cold frame, which is when it is at its best.