Marigold · Irkutsk, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia
When to sow marigolds in Irkutsk
Main outdoor window
27 May - 10 Jun
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
20 May
In Irkutsk, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
16 Jul - 5 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 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.
Start indoors
8-22 Apr
Six weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
27 May - 10 Jun
One week after your last frost.
Plant out
27 May - 10 Jun
One week after your last frost.
In flower
16 Jul - 5 Aug
Marigolds through the year
Against the frost risk in Irkutsk
Why these dates
Six weeks indoors produces flowering plants at transplant time. Direct sowing works but flowers three weeks later.
Killed by frost at both ends of the season, with no tolerance at any growth stage.
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. Marigolds are timed from 6 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 1 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 50 to 70 days to first flower for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Irkutsk
Other flowers to time
Growing marigolds in Irkutsk
When should I plant marigolds in Irkutsk?
Aim for 27 May - 10 Jun in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 3-17 Jun - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will marigolds be ready to harvest in Irkutsk?
Expect to start picking around 16 Jul - 5 Aug, based on 50 to 70 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will marigolds tolerate?
Killed by frost at both ends of the season, with no tolerance at any growth stage.