Safe to Plant

Endive · The Bronx, New York, United States

When to plant endive in The Bronx

Main outdoor window

1-22 Apr

The window this page is built around.

Timed from last spring frost

15 April

In The Bronx, 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 The Bronx

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 Mar

Six weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.

Sow for autumn

22 Jun - 13 Jul

Counting back 114 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.

Sow direct

29 Apr - 20 May

Two weeks after your last frost.

Sow direct

1-22 Apr

Two weeks before your last frost.

Harvest

1 Aug - 30 Nov

Sow in succession. A single sowing gives you a single glut. Sow a short row every 21 days through the window above and you get a steady supply instead.
Frost tolerance
Hardy
Damaged below
-6°C (21.2°F)
Days to maturity
80–100
Min soil temp
7°C (44.6°F)
Spacing
30 cm
Sowing depth
6 mm (0.2 in)
Sun
Full

Endive through the year

Against the frost risk in The Bronx

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Frost risk Start indoors Autumn sowing Sow direct Plant out Harvest Today

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 The Bronx.

The median frost-free season here is 203 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.

See every crop timed for The Bronx →

Growing endive in The Bronx

When should I plant endive in The Bronx?

Aim for 1-22 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 10 Apr - 1 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.

When will endive be ready to harvest in The Bronx?

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.