Rapini · Luhansk, Luhansk, Ukraine
When to plant rapini in Luhansk
Main outdoor window
9-30 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
23 April
In Luhansk, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 May - 30 Nov
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 Luhansk
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
18 Jul - 8 Aug
Counting back 69 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
9-30 Apr
Two weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
1 May - 30 Nov
Rapini through the year
Against the frost risk in Luhansk
Why these dates
Sow from two weeks before the last frost and again from late summer. Warm weather pushes it into flower before the plant has any bulk, so the autumn sowing is the better one.
Hardy to about -6C. Cold weather is what keeps the buds tight, so a frosty autumn produces the best heads.
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. Rapini are timed for direct sowing 2 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Luhansk.
The median frost-free season here is 176 days, against 40 to 55 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Luhansk
Other vegetables to time
Growing rapini in Luhansk
When should I plant rapini in Luhansk?
Aim for 9-30 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 19 Apr - 10 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will rapini be ready to harvest in Luhansk?
Expect to start picking around 1 May - 30 Nov, based on 40 to 55 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will rapini tolerate?
Hardy to about -6C. Cold weather is what keeps the buds tight, so a frosty autumn produces the best heads.