When to sow stocks in New York City

Why these dates

Start indoors eight weeks before the last frost and plant out two weeks before it. Stocks need cool nights, below about 15C, for several weeks to initiate flower spikes, so early planting is not optional - a late-planted stock grows into a leafy plant that never blooms.

Hardy to about -8C. In zone 8 and warmer the sensible approach is autumn planting for late-winter flowers, and in hot climates it is a winter crop only.

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. Stocks are timed from 8 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for New York City.

Hardiness is not the obstacle here. New York City is zone 8a, comfortably inside the range this crop is rated for, so an established plant should come through an average winter without protection.

The median frost-free season here is 249 days, against 80 to 110 days to first flower for this crop counted from planting out. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.

See every crop timed for New York City →