Sweet marjoram · Ürümqi, Xinjiang, China
When to plant sweet marjoram in Ürümqi
Main outdoor window
27 Apr - 18 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
13 April
In Ürümqi, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
26 Jun - 16 Jul
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 Ürümqi
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
16 Feb - 9 Mar
Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Plant out
27 Apr - 18 May
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
26 Jun - 16 Jul
Sweet marjoram through the year
Against the frost risk in Ürümqi
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 Ürümqi.
The median frost-free season here is 192 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 Ürümqi
When should I plant sweet marjoram in Ürümqi?
Aim for 27 Apr - 18 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 9-30 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will sweet marjoram be ready to harvest in Ürümqi?
Expect to start picking around 26 Jun - 16 Jul, 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.