Sweet marjoram · Xiaogan, Hubei, China
When to plant sweet marjoram in Xiaogan
Main outdoor window
19 Mar - 9 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
5 March
In Xiaogan, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
18 May - 7 Jun
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 Xiaogan
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
8-29 Jan
Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Plant out
19 Mar - 9 Apr
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
18 May - 7 Jun
Sweet marjoram through the year
Against the frost risk in Xiaogan
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 Xiaogan.
The median frost-free season here is 270 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 Xiaogan
When should I plant sweet marjoram in Xiaogan?
Aim for 19 Mar - 9 Apr 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 Xiaogan?
Expect to start picking around 18 May - 7 Jun, 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.