Lovage · Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan
When to plant lovage in Skardu
Main outdoor window
31 May - 21 Jun
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
14 June
In Skardu, 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 Skardu
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
19 Apr - 10 May
Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
31 May - 21 Jun
Two weeks before your last frost.
Plant out
28 Jun - 19 Jul
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 May - 30 Sep
Lovage through the year
Against the frost risk in Skardu
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 Skardu.
Hardiness is not the obstacle here. Skardu is zone 5a, 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 Skardu
When should I plant lovage in Skardu?
Aim for 31 May - 21 Jun in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 12 Jun - 3 Jul - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will lovage be ready to harvest in Skardu?
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.