Sweet marjoram · Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
When to plant sweet marjoram in Istanbul
Main outdoor window
6-27 Mar
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
20 February
In Istanbul, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
5-25 May
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 Istanbul
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
25 Dec - 16 Jan
Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Plant out
6-27 Mar
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
5-25 May
Sweet marjoram through the year
Against the frost risk in Istanbul
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 Istanbul.
The median frost-free season here is 303 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 Istanbul
When should I plant sweet marjoram in Istanbul?
Aim for 6-27 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 1-22 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will sweet marjoram be ready to harvest in Istanbul?
Expect to start picking around 5-25 May, 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.