Radish · Tianshui, Gansu, China
When to plant radishes in Tianshui
Main outdoor window
16-23 Mar
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
13 April
In Tianshui, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
7-15 Apr
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 Tianshui
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
22 Aug - 12 Sep
Counting back 44 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
16-23 Mar
Four weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
7-15 Apr
Radishes through the year
Against the frost risk in Tianshui
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 Tianshui.
The median frost-free season here is 196 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 Tianshui
Other vegetables to time
Growing radishes in Tianshui
When should I plant radishes in Tianshui?
Aim for 16-23 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 29 Mar - 5 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will radishes be ready to harvest in Tianshui?
Expect to start picking around 7-15 Apr, 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.