Lovage · Brooklyn, New York, United States
When to plant lovage in Brooklyn
Main outdoor window
15 Mar - 5 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
29 March
In Brooklyn, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 May - 30 Sep
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 Brooklyn
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
1-22 Feb
Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
15 Mar - 5 Apr
Two weeks before your last frost.
Plant out
12 Apr - 3 May
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 May - 30 Sep
Lovage through the year
Against the frost risk in Brooklyn
Why these dates
Very hardy. Dies back entirely and reappears early in spring.
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. Lovage are timed from 8 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Brooklyn.
Hardiness is not the obstacle here. Brooklyn is zone 8a, comfortably inside the range this crop is rated for, so an established plant should come through an average winter without protection.
Do not expect a crop in the first year. A plant set out now should give its first worthwhile pick around year 2, and will then produce every year after that, which is what makes the planting decision worth getting right the first time.
Growing lovage in Brooklyn
When should I plant lovage in Brooklyn?
Aim for 15 Mar - 5 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 25 Mar - 15 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will lovage be ready to harvest in Brooklyn?
Expect to start picking around 1 May - 30 Sep, based on 80 to 100 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will lovage tolerate?
Very hardy. Dies back entirely and reappears early in spring.