Sweet pea · Al Madīnah, Basra, Iraq
When to sow sweet peas in Al Madīnah
Main outdoor window
11 Dec - 2 Jan
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
23 January
In Al Madīnah, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
12 Mar - 1 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 Al Madīnah
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.
Start indoors
13 Nov - 4 Dec
Ten weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow for overwintering
27 Jul - 17 Aug
Counting back 124 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
11 Dec - 2 Jan
Six weeks before your last frost.
Plant out
25 Dec - 16 Jan
Four weeks before your last frost.
In flower
12 Mar - 1 Apr
Sweet peas through the year
Against the frost risk in Al Madīnah
Why these dates
Sow in autumn and overwinter in a cold frame in zone 6 and warmer, or start ten weeks before last frost. Pinch at four true leaves.
Young plants take -8C and benefit from the cold. This is a flower where autumn sowing genuinely doubles the season.
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. Sweet peas are timed from 10 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 4 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Al Madīnah.
The median frost-free season here is 331 days, against 90 to 110 days to first flower for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Growing sweet peas in Al Madīnah
When should I plant sweet peas in Al Madīnah?
Aim for 11 Dec - 2 Jan in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 28 Dec - 18 Jan - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will sweet peas be ready to harvest in Al Madīnah?
Expect to start picking around 12 Mar - 1 Apr, based on 90 to 110 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will sweet peas tolerate?
Young plants take -8C and benefit from the cold. This is a flower where autumn sowing genuinely doubles the season.