Radish · Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India
When to plant radishes in Shimla
Main outdoor window
13-20 Dec
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
10 January
In Shimla, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
4-12 Jan
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.
Sow for autumn
23 Oct - 13 Nov
Counting back 44 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
13-20 Dec
Four weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
4-12 Jan
Radishes through the year
Against the frost risk in Shimla
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 Shimla.
The median frost-free season here is 351 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 Shimla
Other vegetables to time
Growing radishes in Shimla
When should I plant radishes in Shimla?
Aim for 13-20 Dec in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 13-20 Dec - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will radishes be ready to harvest in Shimla?
Expect to start picking around 4-12 Jan, 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.