Radish · Handan, Hebei, China
When to plant radishes in Handan
Main outdoor window
23 Feb - 2 Mar
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
23 March
In Handan, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
17-25 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 Handan
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.
Sow for autumn
9-30 Sep
Counting back 44 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
23 Feb - 2 Mar
Four weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
17-25 Mar
Radishes through the year
Against the frost risk in Handan
Why these dates
Sow every week in spring and autumn. Summer sowings turn woody and hot - stop when daytime temperatures pass 25C and resume in late summer.
Handles -6C easily and is often the first and last thing harvested in the 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. Radishes are timed for direct sowing 4 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Handan.
The median frost-free season here is 236 days, against 22 to 30 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Handan
Other vegetables to time
Growing radishes in Handan
When should I plant radishes in Handan?
Aim for 23 Feb - 2 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 11-18 Mar - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will radishes be ready to harvest in Handan?
Expect to start picking around 17-25 Mar, based on 22 to 30 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will radishes tolerate?
Handles -6C easily and is often the first and last thing harvested in the year.