Chinese cabbage
Vegetables · Sow outdoors or set out
Chinese cabbage planting dates
At usual odds in 2026: spring Mar 16 – Apr 27; fall around Aug 14.
The guide's rule Spring: 6 weeks before last frost to last frost. Fall: 11 weeks before first frost.
Frost odds · chance of a freezing night after your spring date
The 2026 season
Start indoors Plant out / sow Frost risk
At all three odds
| Frost odds | Start indoors | Plant / sow |
|---|---|---|
| Bold (1 in 2) | spring: Feb 9 – Mar 23; fall: around Jul 21 | spring: Mar 9 – Apr 20; fall: around Aug 18 |
| Usual (3 in 10) | spring: Feb 16 – Mar 30; fall: around Jul 17 | spring: Mar 16 – Apr 27; fall: around Aug 14 |
| Careful (1 in 10) | spring: Feb 24 – Apr 7; fall: around Jul 8 | spring: Mar 24 – May 5; fall: around Aug 5 |
- Days to first harvest
- 40-60 from seed 45-60, after transplanting 40-50
- How it goes in
- Sow outdoors or set out 4 weeks indoors to transplant size
- Frost
- Frost-hardy Takes light frost.
- Soil to germinate
- 50-75°F
Plan it in your Garden Book
The book checks your date against the window and tells you when the first harvest could come.
Plus Free Garden Books hold 8 plantings a season; Seed Clock Plus holds 120: $1.95/month or $19.50/year. Free during preview What Plus adds
Source: Montana State University Extension, MontGuide MT199308AG, "Can I Grow That Here? Vegetable Seed and Transplant Schedules for Garden or Container" (reviewed August 2013), read with NOAA 1991-2020 freeze odds for Cleveland Hopkins. Wording ours; how we read the guide.