Lentil · Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
When to plant lentils in Edmonton
Main outdoor window
15 Apr - 6 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
13 May
In Edmonton, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
4 Jul - 3 Aug
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 Edmonton
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
15 Apr - 6 May
Four weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
4 Jul - 3 Aug
Lentils through the year
Against the frost risk in Edmonton
Why these dates
Sow four weeks before the last frost. Lentils are short and easily flattened by rain, so a windless site and a firm seedbed both help at harvest.
Seedlings survive to about -6C, which is why lentils are sown far earlier than most pulses.
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. Lentils are timed for direct sowing 4 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Edmonton.
The median frost-free season here is 137 days, against 80 to 110 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Edmonton
Other grains to time
Growing lentils in Edmonton
When should I plant lentils in Edmonton?
Aim for 15 Apr - 6 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 24 Apr - 15 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will lentils be ready to harvest in Edmonton?
Expect to start picking around 4 Jul - 3 Aug, based on 80 to 110 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will lentils tolerate?
Seedlings survive to about -6C, which is why lentils are sown far earlier than most pulses.