Malabar spinach · Santiago de Querétaro, Querétaro, Mexico
When to plant malabar spinach in Santiago de Querétaro
Main outdoor window
11 Feb - 4 Mar
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
28 January
In Santiago de Querétaro, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Jul - 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 Santiago de Querétaro
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
17 Dec - 7 Jan
Six weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Plant out
11 Feb - 4 Mar
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 Jul - 31 Oct
Malabar spinach through the year
Against the frost risk in Santiago de Querétaro
Why these dates
Start indoors six weeks before the last frost and plant out two weeks after it, against a support. Growth is slow until nights stay above 20C and then becomes rampant.
Growth stops below about 10C and the plant is damaged at 2C, well before an actual frost. In cool summers it never really gets going.
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. Malabar spinach are timed from 6 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 Santiago de Querétaro.
The median frost-free season here is 311 days, against 60 to 80 days to maturity for this crop counted from planting out. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Nearby
Malabar spinach in places close by
Also in Santiago de Querétaro
Other vegetables to time
Growing malabar spinach in Santiago de Querétaro
When should I plant malabar spinach in Santiago de Querétaro?
Aim for 11 Feb - 4 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 4-25 Mar - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will malabar spinach be ready to harvest in Santiago de Querétaro?
Expect to start picking around 1 Jul - 31 Oct, based on 60 to 80 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will malabar spinach tolerate?
Growth stops below about 10C and the plant is damaged at 2C, well before an actual frost. In cool summers it never really gets going.