Lima bean · Irkutsk, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia
When to plant lima beans in Irkutsk
Main outdoor window
3-24 Jun
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
20 May
In Irkutsk, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Aug - 31 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 Irkutsk
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
3-24 Jun
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 Aug - 31 Oct
Lima beans through the year
Against the frost risk in Irkutsk
Why these dates
Sow two weeks after the last frost into soil at 18C or warmer. Sowing into cold soil is the single commonest cause of failure with this crop.
Killed at 0C. Flowers drop rather than set if nights stay above 25C, so extreme heat is as much a problem as cold.
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. Lima beans are timed for direct sowing 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Irkutsk.
The median frost-free season here is 123 days, against 75 to 95 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Irkutsk
Other vegetables to time
Growing lima beans in Irkutsk
When should I plant lima beans in Irkutsk?
Aim for 3-24 Jun in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 10 Jun - 1 Jul - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will lima beans be ready to harvest in Irkutsk?
Expect to start picking around 1 Aug - 31 Oct, based on 75 to 95 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will lima beans tolerate?
Killed at 0C. Flowers drop rather than set if nights stay above 25C, so extreme heat is as much a problem as cold.