Shungiku · Norfolk, Virginia, United States
When to plant shungiku in Norfolk
Main outdoor window
17 Feb - 17 Mar
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
10 March
In Norfolk, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 May - 31 Oct
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 Norfolk
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
7-28 Sep
Counting back 69 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
17 Feb - 17 Mar
Three weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
1 May - 31 Oct
Shungiku through the year
Against the frost risk in Norfolk
Why these dates
Sow from three weeks before the last frost and every two to three weeks. Cut at 15cm and it regrows twice before running to its yellow daisy flowers.
Hardy to about -5C. It bolts quickly in long days and heat, so spring and autumn sowings are the productive ones.
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. Shungiku are timed for direct sowing 3 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Norfolk.
The median frost-free season here is 272 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 Norfolk
Other vegetables to time
Growing shungiku in Norfolk
When should I plant shungiku in Norfolk?
Aim for 17 Feb - 17 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 7 Mar - 4 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will shungiku be ready to harvest in Norfolk?
Expect to start picking around 1 May - 31 Oct, based on 40 to 55 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will shungiku tolerate?
Hardy to about -5C. It bolts quickly in long days and heat, so spring and autumn sowings are the productive ones.