Parsley · Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India
When to plant parsley in Shimla
Main outdoor window
27 Dec - 17 Jan
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
10 January
In Shimla, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
7-27 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 Shimla
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
15 Nov - 6 Dec
Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow for overwintering
24 Aug - 14 Sep
Counting back 104 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
27 Dec - 17 Jan
Two weeks before your last frost.
Plant out
27 Dec - 17 Jan
Two weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
7-27 Mar
Parsley through the year
Against the frost risk in Shimla
Why these dates
Germination takes three to four weeks. Sow indoors eight weeks before last frost or direct once soil warms; either way, patience is required.
Survives -10C and often overwinters to produce an early spring crop before running to seed in its second year.
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. Parsley are timed from 8 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Shimla.
The median frost-free season here is 351 days, against 70 to 90 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Growing parsley in Shimla
When should I plant parsley in Shimla?
Aim for 27 Dec - 17 Jan in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 27 Dec - 17 Jan - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will parsley be ready to harvest in Shimla?
Expect to start picking around 7-27 Mar, based on 70 to 90 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will parsley tolerate?
Survives -10C and often overwinters to produce an early spring crop before running to seed in its second year.