Pak choi · Hejiang, Sichuan, China
When to plant pak choi in Hejiang
Main outdoor window
14-28 Jan
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
28 January
In Hejiang, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
23 Feb - 10 Mar
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 Hejiang
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
31 Dec - 14 Jan
Four weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow for autumn
20 Sep - 11 Oct
Counting back 69 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
14-28 Jan
Two weeks before your last frost.
Plant out
21 Jan - 4 Feb
One week before your last frost.
Harvest
23 Feb - 10 Mar
Pak choi through the year
Against the frost risk in Hejiang
Why these dates
The autumn sowing is the dependable one. Spring sowings bolt readily unless made very early or grown under cover.
Handles a few degrees of frost. A hard freeze destroys the succulent midribs.
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. Pak choi are timed from 4 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 1 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Hejiang.
The median frost-free season here is 325 days, against 40 to 55 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Hejiang
Other vegetables to time
Growing pak choi in Hejiang
When should I plant pak choi in Hejiang?
Aim for 14-28 Jan in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 8-22 Feb - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will pak choi be ready to harvest in Hejiang?
Expect to start picking around 23 Feb - 10 Mar, based on 40 to 55 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will pak choi tolerate?
Handles a few degrees of frost. A hard freeze destroys the succulent midribs.