Marrow · Basrah, Basra, Iraq
When to plant marrows in Basrah
Main outdoor window
6-27 Feb
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
23 January
In Basrah, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Aug - 31 Oct
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 Basrah
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
2-23 Jan
Three weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
6-27 Feb
Two weeks after your last frost.
Plant out
6-27 Feb
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 Aug - 31 Oct
Marrows through the year
Against the frost risk in Basrah
Why these dates
Sow two weeks after the last frost. Let two or three fruits swell per plant and remove the rest, since a plant carrying everything ripens nothing well.
Killed at 0C. Cut and bring the fruit under cover before the first autumn frost, which softens the skin and ends any chance of storing it.
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. Marrows are timed from 3 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 Basrah.
The median frost-free season here is 333 days, against 60 to 80 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Basrah
Other vegetables to time
Growing marrows in Basrah
When should I plant marrows in Basrah?
Aim for 6-27 Feb in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 19 Feb - 12 Mar - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will marrows be ready to harvest in Basrah?
Expect to start picking around 1 Aug - 31 Oct, based on 60 to 80 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will marrows tolerate?
Killed at 0C. Cut and bring the fruit under cover before the first autumn frost, which softens the skin and ends any chance of storing it.