Endive · Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India
When to plant endive in Shimla
Main outdoor window
27 Dec - 17 Jan
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
10 January
In Shimla, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Aug - 30 Nov
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
29 Nov - 20 Dec
Six weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow for autumn
14 Aug - 4 Sep
Counting back 114 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
24 Jan - 14 Feb
Two weeks after your last frost.
Sow direct
27 Dec - 17 Jan
Two weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
1 Aug - 30 Nov
Endive through the year
Against the frost risk in Shimla
Why these dates
Sow from two weeks after the last frost through midsummer for autumn heads. Early sowings bolt, so this is one to hold back rather than rush.
Hardy to about -6C, and blanching heads under a pot also shelters them from the first frosts.
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. Endive are timed from 6 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks before 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 80 to 100 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Shimla
Other vegetables to time
Growing endive in Shimla
When should I plant endive in Shimla?
Aim for 27 Dec - 17 Jan in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 27 Dec - 17 Jan - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will endive be ready to harvest in Shimla?
Expect to start picking around 1 Aug - 30 Nov, based on 80 to 100 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will endive tolerate?
Hardy to about -6C, and blanching heads under a pot also shelters them from the first frosts.