Florence fennel · Chengdu, Sichuan, China
When to plant florence fennel in Chengdu
Main outdoor window
28 Feb - 21 Mar
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
14 February
In Chengdu, 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 Chengdu
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 direct
28 Feb - 21 Mar
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 Aug - 30 Nov
Florence fennel through the year
Against the frost risk in Chengdu
Why these dates
Sow after midsummer rather than in spring, roughly two weeks after the last frost at the earliest. Shortening days are what make it bulb up instead of run to seed.
Takes about -4C. A cold snap after sowing is itself enough of a check to trigger bolting, which is another argument for the later sowing.
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. Florence fennel are timed for direct sowing 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Chengdu.
The median frost-free season here is 300 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 Chengdu
Other vegetables to time
Growing florence fennel in Chengdu
When should I plant florence fennel in Chengdu?
Aim for 28 Feb - 21 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 20 Mar - 10 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will florence fennel be ready to harvest in Chengdu?
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 florence fennel tolerate?
Takes about -4C. A cold snap after sowing is itself enough of a check to trigger bolting, which is another argument for the later sowing.