Sugar snap pea · Laohekou, Hubei, China
When to plant sugar snap peas in Laohekou
Main outdoor window
3-24 Feb
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
10 March
In Laohekou, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Jun - 31 Aug
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 Laohekou
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 Aug
Counting back 89 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
3-24 Feb
Five weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
1 Jun - 31 Aug
Sugar snap peas through the year
Against the frost risk in Laohekou
Why these dates
Sow five weeks before the last frost with support in place from the start. Heat ends the crop, so an early sowing matters more than a large one.
Hardy to about -6C as a plant. Peas germinate in soil at 7C, which is usually weeks before the last frost date.
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. Sugar snap peas are timed for direct sowing 5 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Laohekou.
The median frost-free season here is 260 days, against 60 to 75 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Laohekou
Other vegetables to time
Growing sugar snap peas in Laohekou
When should I plant sugar snap peas in Laohekou?
Aim for 3-24 Feb in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 16 Feb - 9 Mar - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will sugar snap peas be ready to harvest in Laohekou?
Expect to start picking around 1 Jun - 31 Aug, based on 60 to 75 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will sugar snap peas tolerate?
Hardy to about -6C as a plant. Peas germinate in soil at 7C, which is usually weeks before the last frost date.