Sweet marjoram · Hailin, Heilongjiang, China
When to plant sweet marjoram in Hailin
Main outdoor window
21 May - 11 Jun
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
7 May
In Hailin, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
20 Jul - 9 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 Hailin
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
12 Mar - 2 Apr
Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Plant out
21 May - 11 Jun
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
20 Jul - 9 Aug
Sweet marjoram through the year
Against the frost risk in Hailin
Why these dates
Start indoors 8 weeks before the last frost and plant out afterwards. The seed is very fine and needs light to germinate, so surface-sow and do not cover.
Killed by the first frost. A perennial in frost-free climates, an annual everywhere else.
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. Sweet marjoram 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 Hailin.
The median frost-free season here is 149 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.
Growing sweet marjoram in Hailin
When should I plant sweet marjoram in Hailin?
Aim for 21 May - 11 Jun in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 26 May - 16 Jun - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will sweet marjoram be ready to harvest in Hailin?
Expect to start picking around 20 Jul - 9 Aug, based on 60 to 80 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will sweet marjoram tolerate?
Killed by the first frost. A perennial in frost-free climates, an annual everywhere else.