Claytonia · Valdivia, Los RĂos Region, Chile
When to plant claytonia in Valdivia
Main outdoor window
11 Nov - 9 Dec
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
2 September
In Valdivia, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 May - 28 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 Valdivia
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
24 Feb - 17 Mar
Counting back 74 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
11 Nov - 9 Dec
Ten weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 May - 28 Oct
Claytonia through the year
Against the frost risk in Valdivia
Why these dates
Sow in late summer, roughly ten weeks after midsummer, for picking from late autumn onwards. It self-seeds freely, so one deliberate sowing often becomes a permanent patch.
Hardy to about -12C and unbothered by repeated freezing, which is why it was a winter green long before it was a salad leaf.
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. Claytonia are timed for direct sowing 10 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Valdivia.
The median frost-free season here is 270 days, against 45 to 60 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Valdivia
Other vegetables to time
Growing claytonia in Valdivia
When should I plant claytonia in Valdivia?
Aim for 11 Nov - 9 Dec in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 16 Dec - 13 Jan - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will claytonia be ready to harvest in Valdivia?
Expect to start picking around 1 May - 28 Oct, based on 45 to 60 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will claytonia tolerate?
Hardy to about -12C and unbothered by repeated freezing, which is why it was a winter green long before it was a salad leaf.