Peanut · Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
When to plant peanuts in Edmonton
Main outdoor window
27 May - 17 Jun
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
13 May
In Edmonton, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
24-26 Sep
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 Edmonton
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 Apr - 6 May
Four weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
27 May - 17 Jun
Two weeks after your last frost.
Plant out
27 May - 17 Jun
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
24-26 Sep
Peanuts through the year
Against the frost risk in Edmonton
Why these dates
Sow direct two weeks after the last frost once the soil is genuinely warm, or start indoors and plant out - peanuts resent root disturbance, so use deep pots. Once the flowers fade, the stalks bend down and push into the soil; anything that stops them reaching loose ground stops the crop.
Frost-tender at both ends of the season. The plant is killed at 0C, and because the pods develop underground over a long period, an early autumn frost catches a crop that is not yet finished.
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. Peanuts are timed from 4 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 Edmonton.
The median frost-free season here is 137 days, against 120 to 150 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Edmonton
Other nuts to time
Growing peanuts in Edmonton
When should I plant peanuts in Edmonton?
Aim for 27 May - 17 Jun in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 5-26 Jun - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will peanuts be ready to harvest in Edmonton?
Expect to start picking around 24-26 Sep, based on 120 to 150 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will peanuts tolerate?
Frost-tender at both ends of the season. The plant is killed at 0C, and because the pods develop underground over a long period, an early autumn frost catches a crop that is not yet finished.